The Second Prophecy
by Kaitlyn Fall
Summary: The Wizarding world is real. JK Rowling is actually a witch who wanted to cash out on Harry's story - and she embellished the facts big time. In reality, Harry's very different, and he's dealing with a brand new prophecy that concerns... a muggle?
1. Chapter 1

_Hey everyone! I wrote this years ago, then reworked it after the seventh HP book came out. I thought Harry Potter needed a desperate, weak-at-the-knees, can't-survive-without-you love story (and of course it HAS to be forbidden), so Ginny fans, sorry – but it's not with her. In all fairness, he's a different Harry..._

_And for the record, I ADORE JK Rowling, but she had to be depicted in a certain way for my story to work… well, you'll see what I mean._

_Enjoy!_

_DISCLAIMER: Glances down Nope, still not the extremely rich JK Rowling who owns Harry Potter._

**Chapter One – Knight Bus**

'_She without the magic of our world will be the key to victory in the Great Battle ahead.'_

There are three terrible things that can happen to you to make your life a living hell:

A - you can lose your job

B - you can lose your apartment

C - you can lose your boyfriend

Now I'm generally a positive person. Who wouldn't be, if they were the youngest person in their company and one of the highest valued employees? And they shared an awesome apartment with their gorgeous boyfriend? And they were so busy and important that they only had one friend?

So you can understand that my manageability threshold is pretty high. Unfortunately, _no one's_ threshold can withstand the three aforementioned things when they all happen within the space of fifteen minutes.

Because that's what happened to me.

It's a Saturday, 8.50am. I'm going into work for a major meeting. The 'big boss' is coming in to discuss something important with the group. I look sharp, with classy attire and an efficient hairstyle. My makeup is perfection. I want to show the 'big boss' what I'm all about.

My expensive company mobile rings at 8.54am. It's my gorgeous boyfriend. He tells me in less than forty seconds that he's sleeping with my best (and only) friend, and that I can keep the apartment if I pay him back his half of the bond money.

This is not good. This definitely has put a damper on my day. A massive betrayal of my best friend and boyfriend. Sure, I'm not totally positive I _loved_ my boyfriend, but he was still cute, you know?

So I gather myself in the fifty-nine second ride in the elevator up to the top floor, and flick off the smudge of mascara under my eye that has formed from a threatening tear. I will not cry about such silly things, believe me. I have gone through worse than this, and come out of it a better person.

9.07am is when the worst of it hits. The twenty or so employees that have been called in for the Saturday meeting are sitting around the large oak table, wearily watching the 'big boss'. None of us like the tone in his voice. And then he breaks it to us. The company is going public. There will be layoffs. Our services are no longer required. We have two weeks to pack up our things and tidy up loose ends.

9.08am I stand up and storm furiously from the room. I have given the better part of my last year to this damn place, and I'm not going to waste another moment in the building. Of course, my reaction probably had something to do with the conversation I had 14 minutes ago, but that didn't stop me.

9.09am I walked out of the building and realised that I would not be able to buy the apartment from my _ex_ boyfriend. I couldn't afford to live there now I didn't have my flashy job.

My spectacular life had crumbled into a mountain of debris within a quarter of an hour.

My stylish heels clicked against the pavement as I walked through the city towards the bus station. My lovely _ex_ apartment was only five minutes from my wonderful _ex_ job, so I had never bothered to buy a car. Of course now it would have been a great asset to have, so I could sell it and find somewhere else to rent. But now, all I had were my savings in the bank and the clothes hanging in my _ex_ wardrobe.

To stop myself from giving a wretched sob, I jumped onto the closest bus (I had no idea where it was going) and let it take me out – out of the city, out of the ridiculous boundaries of the day and out of the sickening pile of dung that was now my life.

The bus chugged down the freeway as I attempted to gather myself. It was all I could do to stop the tears leaking from my eyes. One hour out of the city, we were zigzagging through pretty suburbs and luxury houses. Grass and flowers and trees flourished around marble buildings and limestone pavement. I took in the scenery and let the beauty soothe me. I could get myself through this. I could get myself through anything. I had grown up without parents, without a family. If anyone could deal with the three worst things happening to them in one day, it was me.

The bus pulled up at a large shopping complex – the last stop. I hopped off, feeling indescribably better than when I'd boarded.

I spent the entire day shopping.

I know this isn't the smartest move for someone who's homeless and unemployed, but I needed a pick-me-up, and retail therapy is the only way to go. Besides, I deserved it more than anyone today.

I brought shoes and outfits and coffee and make up and perfume and more coffee and a delicious gourmet lunch, maxing out my credit card in the hopes that they wouldn't be able to find me when they came to repossess it all.

It had to come eventually, however. I couldn't stop the inevitable. Slowly, lights flickered off in the shops, and shutters began to roll down. The bustling crowd thinned, and the sun began to set.

My feet were killing me, despite the fact that the first thing I had done was swap my heels for more comfortable footwear. Exhaustion hit me like a brick wall, and depression quickly followed.

I had nowhere to go.

In a moment of insanity, I thought about going to my best friend's house, but I quickly remembered that she was now my _ex_ best friend, living with my _ex_ boyfriend in my _ex_ apartment. I wasn't going to stay with her.

I trudged out of the complex with my piles of shopping bags, gazing out blankly into the empty car park. The street lights flickered on as the sky glowed orange. The roar of cars along the main road was distant and ineffective. They seemed so far away from me at this moment.

I mused vaguely over the horrendous task of going to my _ex_ apartment to collect my things. Where could I possibly keep all my material possessions, if I didn't have a home?

My despair was growing like the darkness around me, building with every passing minute. I stood in that space for I don't know how long. Behind me was the once-cheerful shopping centre that had harboured me during the toughest day of my life, now cold and desolate. In front of me was the vast, silent parking lot, disappearing into the twilight. I felt frozen in time, though the day continued around me. I wished it would stop; become frozen with me. I didn't want to continue this way.

Honestly, _honestly_, what was I going to do?

I wished desperately that this was all a bad dream, that I would wake up tomorrow in my soft, warm double bed in the arms of my handsome boyfriend.

A cold wind picked up and bit at my skin. There was no way a dream felt this icy.

The tears from that morning burnt threateningly behind my eyelids, but before my breakdown could really get going, a purple double-decker bus chugged around the corner and stopped at the pedestrian crossing right in front of me.

I blinked, surprised, as the doors groaned open to reveal a shaggy man behind the wheel.

'Need a ride?' he grinned down at me.

'Er,' I replied out of lack of things to say.

'Hop in,' the man encouraged. 'I'll take you where you need to go.'

'Er,' I said again.

I wasn't stupid. There were plenty of things wrong with this scenario. Why didn't this bus driver have a proper route? Why did he assume his bus was going in the same direction as 'home', wherever that was?

'I'm not gonna hurt you,' the man assured me.

That was one thing I wasn't afraid of. I knew how to look after myself, and grown men did not scare me. I prided myself on being particularly courageous. This in mind, I climbed up the steps and boarded the bus.

I was surprised to find cosy armchairs in the place of seats, with a large brown box on the left side that looked like a vending machine. I paused in the aisle.

'New government proposal,' the shaggy bus driver explained when he noticed my hesitation.

'Impressive,' I said, raising my eyebrows.

The only other passenger was a tired-looking man at the back of the bus, by the staircase. He had his chin in his palm and was staring absently out of the window. I noticed he kept one hand in his shabby coat, and wondered if he was carrying a weapon.

Deciding to stay well away from this man, I hauled my shopping bags into the armchair closest to the driver and settled down comfortably.

'Can I offer you a hot drink?' the driver asked, twisting in his seat to look at me.

'Another government proposal?' I asked wearily.

'Absolutely,' the man grinned broadly.

I had expected his teeth to be yellowed and old, but they were actually white and healthy. This struck me as rather strange, but the entire past two minutes had been pretty bizarre.

'Public transport is something the government will be focussing on in the next election,' the driver explained, getting to his feet and heading down to the vending machine. He pressed a few buttons and the machine shuddered.

'Coffee?' he inquired.

'Definitely,' I replied.

'Milk? Sugar?' the driver inquired, his finger on another button.

'No thanks,' I said, and the man brought me a paper cup with a very delicious-looking liquid inside. 'Wow,' I said as the aroma reached my nostrils and I took a sip, 'not bad for instant.'

The driver looked pleased, and perched himself back on his seat in front of the wheel. 'We'll just drop this other passenger off then I'll take you home,' he said as the doors hissed closed.

There were many obvious problems with what was happening, but I simply didn't care. My life was down the drain, and the extra part of the journey would give me time to figure out what to do with myself. So far, my plan was to go to the cheapest hotel in the city and find a new job before my money ran out. However, if a new plan was to come to me during the bus ride, I'd be happy to consider the alternative.

The bus lurched forward, and I grabbed hold of my shopping bags to keep them from flying everywhere while still clutching my coffee. I took another sip, but suddenly sleepiness was gripping at my mind. My eyelids felt as though they had heavy coins on them, and drooped threateningly. I had an unpleasant idea that there was something wrong with the coffee.

I could have sworn I heard a loud bang, as though part of the bus had exploded, but I was asleep before I could check.

* * *

'We've made it.'

'We definitely haven't been followed?'

'Not to my knowledge.'

I slowly drifted back into consciousness as two male voices punctured the silence.

'Excellent, she's waking up. Excuse me, miss? Hello?'

I stirred and opened my eyes, jumping in panic when I saw the shaggy driver and the tired passenger smiling down at me.

'I must've fallen asleep,' I said in shock, glancing around to make sure all my shopping bags were still with me. I caught sight of the scenery around me and frowned. Grassy hills and mountains stretched out as far as I could see on either side of the bus. There was certainly nothing like this anywhere near the city. And… it was still light. How long had I been asleep?

'Where are we?' I asked.

'Home,' the shaggy man grinned.

And that's when I caught sight of the castle in front of the bus.

I sat up abruptly in my seat, clutching at the armchair's fabric.

'Oh my god, where have you taken me? Where is this? What do you want with me?'

'Now calm down missy, it's alright,' the tired passenger smiled. 'We're not going to hurt you.'

'This is a university,' the shaggy driver explained. 'We'd like to show you around.'

I glared up at the two men, completely unconvinced.

'Take me back,' I demanded.

'I'm afraid I can't do that,' the shaggy driver said, and I shivered.

What on earth were these men going to do with me?

'Do you really want to go home?' the passenger inquired. 'I hear you were in a bit of a rough situation back there.'

'How do you know that?' I asked suspiciously.

'Everything will be explained to you if you just come inside with us,' the driver promised.

'Do you think I'm stupid enough to fall for that?' I said angrily.

'Look, we can take you back,' the passenger said patiently. 'But what have you got back there? Really? So you can choose to go home to nothing, or come inside and find out what this university has to offer.'

I peered out of the front windscreen. Giant iron gates rose up before the bus, clamped together by an oversized padlock. A wide driveway wound up an incline, leading up to the castle, which stood magnificently on the crest of the hill.

'I want you to know that I could kick both your asses if you try anything,' I warned, getting out of the armchair and starting down the aisle with my shopping.

I caught the driver and the passenger exchange grins as I thumped down the steps.

'Oh thank god, oh thank god.'

I turned to the new voice as I reached the ground and saw an old man with large glasses hurrying up to me.

'Is she alright?' he asked as the two men disembarked behind me. 'Is she hurt?'

I glanced down at my body in surprise, wondering why this strange old man was worried about me.

'She's fine,' the driver assured the old man. 'I got her back in one piece. I took her for a few burns down some back roads so she could let off some steam.'

It took me a few more confused moments to realise that 'she' was actually the bus. The old man hastened around the double-decker, checking the sides and the windows. The shaggy driver held up the bus keys, dangling them in front of the old man's face as he rushed up to them. The old man snatched the keys from him and made a face.

'I hate the thought she's been with someone else. I wouldn't have let you use her at all! If it wasn't for Du–'

'Hush!' the driver said sharply, flicking his eyes towards me.

The old man shook his head and thudded up the bus steps.

'I'm taking her back, if you've finished with her.'

He didn't wait for a reply as the doors hissed closed and the bus chugged away. I watched it follow the slope down towards a little village in the distance.

'Shall we?' the driver smiled to me.

I turned just in time to see something silvery dash up the driveway towards the castle and the passenger shove something hastily into his shabby coat.

Instead of asking, I merely pretended that I hadn't seen anything. To be perfectly honest, something seemed bizarrely familiar about all this.

'Who are you?' I asked.

They didn't get a chance to reply before the padlock clicked and the gates creaked open.

'Automated service,' the passenger said quickly at my surprised expression. 'Come on, follow us.'

I hesitated for a moment at the very threshold of the gates, and the men stopped to wait for me. I didn't have to go inside. I could still go home and fix my life. Well, what was left of my life…

The more I thought about what was waiting for me at home, the more desperate I became to leave it all behind. I could be dead right now, actually. I could have been shot outside the shopping centre, and this was actually the afterlife.

I know this sounds awfully stupid, but it was the best explanation for the otherwise unexplainable circumstances.

Even if it wasn't the case, I knew I had nothing to return to. They could be crazy, they could be murderous, they could make my life hell, but I was going to follow these men and see where life (or the afterlife) was taking me.

Inhaling slowly and deeply, I stepped inside the parameters and heard the gate clang closed behind me. I refused to look back.

It took twenty minutes to climb the hill, but I was fit and exhilarated by my bold choice. It was strange, really, but the further I walked, the sharper my mind seemed to be. I knew things, silly things that didn't make any sense. For example, I knew that these two men would not hurt me. In fact, for some reason, I knew I could trust these two with my life.

The last part of the journey was a set of steps leading up to the entrance of the castle, and I climbed them with ease. My daily jogging routine had finally paid off.

The oak door swung open and an elderly man stepped out, wearing some sort of midnight blue dressing gown and nightcap. His silver beard and half-moon spectacles sparked a memory within me, but I dismissed it immediately.

'Ah at last!' he beamed through spectacles, clasping his hands together. 'I trust your trip was… uneventful?'

'It was fine,' the driver nodded meaningfully. 'We're clear.'

'Excellent excellent,' the old man smiled. 'Now young lady, I'm sure you have many questions, but please just come inside and have something to eat. It's dinner in your time zone.'

I frowned. That definitely didn't sound right.

'Wait… what?'

'Come come,' the old man insisted, placing a hand on my back and gently ushering me inside the castle.

I walked through the entrance, craning my neck to see the domed roof above me. _'What the hell's going on?'_ I wondered silently. I skidded to a stop as my brain suddenly seemed to convulse. Everything suddenly seemed familiar, as if I had seen it all before. It wasn't a memory – more like a déjà vu.

The three men froze in their tracks, their eyes glued to me.

'Are you ok?' the passenger asked worriedly.

'Uh… yeah,' I said carefully to avoid concern.

Something, like an instinct, or a strange knowledge was telling me to keep silent, and I trusted it.

We continued into an enormous dining area with four tables running the length of the room and it hit me abruptly. I suddenly knew where we were. Hogwarts… from Harry Potter.

The moment the ridiculous thought entered my brain, I flushed, embarrassed. This was the stupidest thing that had ever happened to me. How could I be in an imaginary place? I hated the idea with every fibre of my being, but I couldn't dismiss the thought. I shook my head, trying to clear the notion. I refused to believe it, _refused_.

'Have a seat,' the old man urged, gesturing towards a chair by the far right table.

A hot meal sat waiting patiently for me. My stomach growled as the smell of roast chicken and potato wafted tantalisingly around me. I remembered that I hadn't eaten anything for at least six hours and decided that even if these crazy people had poisoned my food, I didn't care. I plonked myself down on the wooden seat, shoving my shopping bags under the table and shovelling food down my throat while the men whispered in low voices to each other in the corner of the room.

My eyes kept flicking up to the three. The driver was Sirius Black. The passenger was Remus Lupin. The old man was…

I reached for the cup in front of me and drained the sweet-tasting juice to hide my humiliation. I wanted to stop these stupid thoughts from running through my brain.

When I had finished my meal, the men stopped their secret conversation and sat with me at the table.

'Now,' the old man said carefully, his grey eyes intently piercing into me. 'I'm sure you'd like an explanation.'

'Yes please,' I said, but part of me was resisting. If this man started saying all the things I had been pushing to the back of my mind, I was going to run for it.

The old man nodded before gesturing to the castle. 'This is a university. We are stationed in Britain. You've come a long way.' I pursed my lips but did not reply. The old man paused, his gaze never leaving me. 'Would you like to add something?'

I shook my head, not daring to let myself speak. My stupid thoughts might escape my mouth, and I didn't want to be thrown into an asylum.

'Do you know who we are?' Sirius Black – no, _no_, the shaggy _bus driver_ – asked.

'I'm crazy,' I blurted out in desperation. I knew I was crazy. I _knew_ it.

'I think she knows,' Remus Lupin – NO – the _passenger_ said.

'I hope she knows,' the old man said, still staring at me. 'It would be a lot easier than trying to explain everything.'

'I'm out of here,' I said, standing sharply and almost running through the hall.

'We need you,' the old man called out after me in a booming voice, and something inside me knew he was telling the truth.

I slowed by the entrance and turned back to him. 'I,' I puffed, 'am _not_ insane!'

'We know,' the old man said gently. 'Please let us explain everything to you.' He nodded towards my recently-vacated chair, and I hesitated before walking unsteadily back to it. Even if I had been able to escape, I had no way of getting home. I sat myself down, hiding my trembling hands under the table.

'Have you read Harry Potter?' the old man inquired very carefully, as though well aware how I was going to react.

I cringed and whimpered inaudibly. I didn't want to be hearing this. It had to be a dream. I was in a coma, or unconscious in the purple bus. Maybe the driver had drugged me, and I was still asleep.

Swallowing hard and squeezing my eyes shut, I nodded. I drew a deep breath before daring to open my eyes again. The old man leaned forward, his spectacles sliding slightly down his crooked nose.

'Do you believe in magic?'

I shook my head determinedly. 'No. _No._'

The stupid, know-it-all part of me that had appeared when I walked through the gates was telling me otherwise. '_Yes,'_ it sung, '_magic is real and you're in Hogwarts and you're not even crazy!'_

I hated that part of me.

The old man sighed and sat back in his chair, surveying me over the temple made from his fingers.

'What is your name?' he asked quietly.

Even the know-it-all part of me knew how to answer the question.

'Emma.'

The old man paused for a moment before continuing. The passenger and the driver seated opposite me remained silent.

'Well Emma, it's time you began believing in magic. You're living in it.' I didn't respond. I didn't know how to. The old man leaned forward again. 'Don't fight it. Let it flow through you, let it be a part of you.'

I gritted my teeth. I knew what he was talking about. The know-it-all voice inside of me.

Well I wasn't going to let it control me. I was going to suppress it with every ounce of strength I had. There was no way I was going to end up in a nut house.

To my surprise, the passenger (NOT Remus Lupin) reached out and touched my hand.

'We're real,' he said gently. 'Magic is real. Wizards and witches and Hogwarts and Harry…'

'So you're telling me,' I said suspiciously, 'that the Harry Potter books are real?'

'A witch wanted to make quite a lot of money from Harry's story,' the old man explained quietly. 'She exposed our world in the process.'

The driver (NOT Sirius Black) snorted. 'She sold out big time. A lot of things in the book are off. I've raised Harry since his parents were killed. Rowling wanted to start him off in a muggle family so muggles could enjoy the book. You know, it was a selling point. Plus, Hogwarts is a university, not a school.'

'The books began going awry when the war started and she stopped being able to worm information out of people,' the old man said. 'She started making a lot more things up. It was a tough task to destroy the horocruxes when she spilled that big secret, but we succeeded.'

I stared resolutely at a spot above the old man's right shoulder. This was not happening. I was not hearing this nonsense. Even as I thought it, the stupid part of me told me it was all true.

'Now, as the true prophecy says, Harry will face Voldermort during his twenty-fourth year on earth,' the old man finished.

'What have I got to do with this?' I asked sharply. I simply did not see where I fit into the picture.

'Ah!' the old man exclaimed triumphantly. 'This is the intriguing part. Another prophecy was made several months ago. A prophecy about a certain muggle being the key to Harry's victory.'

'Excuse me?' I demanded. The three men all grinned at me. This was utter absurdity. I had had enough. Standing again, I spun on my heel and walked straight into a hard wall.

'Oof!' I gasped, stumbled back. My chair toppled over as my legs banged into it.

The moment I gained my bearings, I glanced up.

There he was.

I knew it the moment I saw him, and it had nothing to do with his black hair and green eyes. And even though he looked older and did not have glasses, I was not mistaken.

'Harry Potter,' I said as the air whooshed from my lungs.

'Who are you?' he demanded, glaring at me suspiciously. He glanced at the other men. 'Who is she?'

I didn't hear the next part of the conversation, because my head was buzzing in astonishment. How was this happening? I covered my face with my hands tried to resist hyperventilating.

'I am asleep,' I muttered under my breath. 'I am fast asleep and dreaming –'

'Are you _serious_?'

The boy's… _Harry's_… shouting made my head jerk up. I glanced towards the table as Harry's face filled with fury.

'This muggle _girl_ is the key to destroying Voldermort? You're all out of your minds!'

'I'm perfectly capable,' I snapped, despite myself.

'You're having me on,' Harry said with a wry smile. 'A second ago you were having an anxiety attack.'

I folded my arms calmly. This was it. The solution to getting a grip. An insult to my nature was the driving force to excel. Suddenly I was back in the office, being told by an executive that I couldn't get a client.

'I can do anything I need to,' I said, staring him down with an unwavering gaze.

Harry glared at the men at the table and shook his head. 'This is stupid. I don't need some little girl 'protecting' me. I'll do just fine on my own. Send her back to her own people.' And with that, he stormed away in fury.

I turned to the men, unable to help it as my eyebrows flew up in surprise. 'Did… he just have a temper tantrum?'

I had done it. I was in control. I was determined to prove I could handle this, even if just to show up that jerk of a boy.

'He didn't exactly grow up to be the modest hero Rowling made him out to be,' the passenger – _Remus Lupin_ – admitted with an apologetic shrug. 'He's been living with fame his entire life…'

'Not to mention having the prophecy on his back,' the driver – _Sirius Black_ – added defensively. 'Give the kid a break.'

'You've been giving him a break his whole life,' Remus argued. 'Maybe that's why he is the way he is.'

'Maybe that's why Emma's here,' Sirius grinned. 'To set him straight.'

'Well whatever the reason, we would like you to stay for the time being and see what little secrets this prophecy holds,' the old man smiled. Who was I kidding? The old man was Dumbledore. I was even surprised to find myself glad that he didn't really die.

I suddenly hesitated. 'You want me to stay here?' I asked.

'The remanets of your old life has been taken care of,' Dumbledore assured me.

He did not elaborate, and I felt that I did not need to know, at least for the time being.

Remus showed me around some of the castle, but it was so enormous that I knew I'd probably get lost.

'So do you work here?' I inquired casually as we passed a particularly large painting.

I was sure I saw something in the picture move out of the corner of my eye, but I couldn't bring myself to look. I kept my eyes on the length of the corridors, occasionally glancing at rooms that Remus pointed out.

'I teach advanced Defence Against the Dark Arts classes,' Remus told me.

'You resigned in the Harry Potter books,' I remembered. 'Because you're a… uh…'

I didn't want to finish the sentence.

'I take a potion to keep me from turning,' Remus shrugged casually, as if it was no big deal that he was a werewolf. 'I'm not a threat to any of the students here.'

'Where are all the students?'

'The new year doesn't start until Monday. The students arrive tomorrow.'

I felt a particularly large lump form in my throat.

'Tomorrow? There's going to be hundreds of magical students here… tomorrow?'

'Absolutely,' Remus grinned. 'I don't know what Dumbledore's planning to do with you.'

'He's going to let her go to classes like a normal student.'

I stopped as Harry Potter (oh jeez, that sounded so weird) stepped out from behind the corner.

'How do you know?' Remus inquired.

'Dumbledore told me,' Harry said, his eyes fixed on me. 'He said she will take all the classes I'm doing.'

'And you agreed to this?' I asked warily. 'I thought you didn't need a girl protecting you?'

'I want to find out if you can really live up to this 'secret weapon' prophecy,' Harry said. 'If you can't, I'm shipping you back to wherever you came from.'

'You're so nice.'

'Oh no,' Remus groaned. 'This is going to be painful, I can tell already.'

'I'm just careful,' Harry pointed out. 'I don't need anyone trying to 'help'. I don't trust her. This could be all Voldermort's doing."

'Oh, you caught me,' I drawled. 'I'm Voldermort's agent; we cooked the whole plan up this morning.'

'You think you're funny?'

'Got more of a sense of humour than you –'

'Oh for the love of God, stop it or I'm putting the Silencing Charm on both of you.'

I turned to Remus, who was rubbing his eyes with his forefinger and his thumb.

'Are you ok?' Harry asked, concern flickering across his face.

I immediately saw why he was worried. Remus's skin had an odd grey tint, and his fingernails suddenly looked a lot sharper. A few moments later, Remus let out a sigh and withdrew his hands from his face, looking completely normal again. I wondered if it had just been my imagination.

'Yeah,' he said breathlessly. 'I'm alright. I just feel a little stressed. This year's going to be hard on all of us.'

Although his expression was convincing, I couldn't shake the discomfort in the back of my mind. Something had just happened to Remus, something that wasn't supposed to happen.

'Alright Emma,' Remus said. 'I'll take you to the Fourth Year common room. Professor McGonagall is waiting for you. Harry, go back to Dumbledore and we'll figure out how we're going to work this.'

Remus started to turn, then hesitated. 'I think I need some water. I'll be right back.'

He disappeared around a corner and I took the opportunity to turn to Harry. 'I think something's wrong with him –'

'What would _you_ know?' Harry snapped. He stalked away in the opposite direction to Remus. I waited alone, feeling incredibly uncomfortable. A figure in the painting to the side of me moved, and I squeezed my eyes shut tightly.

'I am ok,' I whispered to myself. 'It's just like the books. I am going to deal with this.'

'Are you talking to yourself kid?'

I jumped and opened my eyes, whimpering when I saw a woman in a painting staring down at me. The slender lady was adorned in a purple gown and a fruit hat, surrounded by grapes and apples. I was unable to control my legs as I stumbled backwards against the far wall.

'Yikes, what's the deal hon?' the painting woman laughed.

'Can I help you?'

The raspy voice came from my left, and I turned to find a fat old man in the painting next to me. I scrambled sideways, away from the man, knocking another frame.

'Hey, watch it!' a boy yelled in the swinging picture, grabbing on to a tree to keep his balance.

'Oh my god, what have I gotten myself into?' I moaned, sprinting down the corridor after Remus.

Suddenly everything changed. My mind felt sharp, like glass, and the sound of rushing water thundered in my ears. I skidded to a stop as strange flashes of images ran across my mind. There was a man with a curtain of black hair by a large pot… Green smoke was spewing out of the pot in waves… the man was coughing…

I shook my head violently to clear my mind.

'Emma? Are you ok?'

My mind returned to my surroundings, and I found Remus standing in front of me.

'What happened?' he asked in concern. 'You looked a little out of it.'

'I saw something…' I started slowly, then I shook my head. 'Never mind.'

Remus smiled kindly. 'Don't be afraid. You're in the magic world now. It's a different realm. Strange things are allowed to happen.'

I didn't reply, but Remus prodded further. 'What did you see?'

I hesitated, but I felt like I could trust the person before me. 'I saw… a… man and… I think it was a cauldron.' I cringed slightly. 'You have cauldrons in this world… don't you?'

'Yes,' Remus promised. 'What did the man look like?'

'Tall… uh… skinny. I didn't get a good look. It went by so quickly.'

'Did he have black hair?'

I nodded numbly, feeling my face grow warm. I couldn't believe anyone could take me seriously.

'Hmm,' Remus said slowly. 'It sounds like Professor Snape. He works with cauldrons. But you haven't even met him yet.'

I started to feel anxious. 'It's alright, it was nothing. Don't worry about it, I'm just tired. It's quite late in my time zone.'

'Are you sure?' Remus asked, frowning slightly. 'This might have to do with the prophecy…'

'I'm sure, please just let me go to bed.'

Remus looked uncertain for a moment but nodded when he met my pleading gaze.

'Ok, come on then.'

He led me up several flights of stairs, and we passed many corridors and paintings. I preferred to keep my eyes on the floor.

Minerva McGonagall was just how I imagined her. She had prepared an extra bed for me, with pyjamas, a towel, a toothbrush, hairbrush and other necessities. I noticed that my forgotten shopping bags had been brought up to my room, so at least I had a few extra clothes and shoes.

'Is this the Griffindor place?' I couldn't help wondering as I wandered back down from the dormitory to the common room. Remus was waiting by the fireplace.

'No dear, there are no houses in Hogwarts,' Minerva smiled.

'Uh… Minerva…' Remus said hesitantly, glancing at me. 'There's something you should –'

'No,' I interrupted quickly. 'It's ok, really.'

Minerva looked from me to Remus, puzzled. 'Is something the matter?'

'Nothing's wrong,' I rushed in before Remus could speak. 'Everything's been sorted out. Thank you Minerva.'

Minerva nodded and walked out of the common room. The moment she was out of earshot, Remus turned to me.

'Why don't you want to talk about it?'

'Because it was nothing,' I said firmly.

Remus let out a sigh. 'Alright, I won't say anything. But if it happens again, promise you'll come to me.' I didn't answer, and Remus leaned forward. 'Promise?'

'Fine,' I muttered, glaring at the ground.

'Get some rest,' Remus said gently. 'I'll have Minerva wake you for supper.'

I nodded and headed back up the stairs, hoping dearly that when I woke up, I'd be home in bed.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two – The Order**

'Emma. Emma dear, come down for supper.'

I groggily opened my eyes to see the starry night through my window. My heart sunk when I realised where I was.

So it hadn't been a dream.

'Emma.'

I rolled over and rubbed my eyes as Minerva tried to get my attention.

'It feels like four in the morning,' I grumbled.

'In your time, it is,' Minerva pointed out. 'But it's only eight o'clock here, and you have to get used to the time difference. Come down for dinner.'

I struggled to get out of bed, and Minerva handed me a warm jumper.

'Here. I'll meet you in the common room.'

I pulled the jumper on Minerva led me to the Great Hall, where a rather large group of people had gathered for supper. Harry sat next to Dumbledore, and the two appeared to be in a rather deep discussion. Sirius and Remus were talking animatedly about something that was obviously very funny because they were laughing quite cheerfully. A fairly hairy man in the chair closest to the door towered above everyone else. Opposite him was what looked like a man who was missing a few pieces. One eye didn't look quite right…

My poor mind was scrambling to remember the Harry Potter books. I had read them so long ago, and they hadn't particularly stuck in my head. Something was telling me the two were called Hagrid and Moody. I wondered if it was my memory, or that know-it-all part of my mind rearing its ugly head.

There was a man down the end of the table who was helping himself to chicken, and the redhead woman next to him was hitting his arm.

'Not yet Mundungus!'

I couldn't remember who Mundungus was. The redhead woman was surrounded by redhead children of all ages, and I figured they were the Weasley family.

'Good evening,' Minerva announced to the table. 'This is Emma.'

Everyone turned and immediately stared at me, and I felt a blush rise in my cheeks.

'That's the muggle who's going to help Harry?' Moody growled, scrutinizing me in disbelief. 'I'm not so sure about this, Dumbledore.'

'Thank you,' Harry said, glaring at me. 'Finally someone sees how ridiculous this looks.'

Remus met my gaze, and I realised he really wanted to tell the others about what had happened earlier. At that moment, I sensed someone sweep into the room behind me.

'Ah Severus.' Dumbledore nodded to a spot behind me. 'I'm glad you could make it.'

'Had a bit of a problem with a potion I was trying to produce,' a slick voice said.

I drew in a sharp breath and turned to Severus, immediately recognising the man from my 'vision'.

'Oh my God,' I breathed, my mind feeling slightly jumbled. 'How…?'

I heard the scraping of a chair behind me and knew Remus had stood.

'Emma?' he asked. 'Is this the man you saw?'

Without turning to him, I nodded. I couldn't take my eyes off the thin man in front of me; his hooked nose and greasy hair exactly how Rowling had described it. Severus looked down at me, a frown crossing his face.

'What are you talking about?' he inquired carefully.

I didn't want to speak. Everyone waited politely, but I couldn't open my mouth.

'It's ok,' Remus said gently. 'Just tell us what happened.'

I gulped and inhaled deeply. 'I saw… you…' I said nervously to Severus. 'In… in my mind. You were standing by a cauldron. There was green smoke everywhere… and you were coughing.'

The silence was deafening. No one spoke for over a minute. Severus raised his head so he was looking down his nose at me. 'What was in my left hand?'

I felt a thrill of fear rush over me. What was in his left hand? I had no idea! I didn't dare turn back to the others. I could hear them all holding their breaths. I had to think, I had to remember, or they'd never believe me. I closed her eyes and tried to call the memory back to my mind.

The man, the smoke, the cauldron… and a…

'A ladle,' I finally croaked, opening my eyes. My throat felt tight, and my voice was raspy, but I knew I was right. 'You were holding a ladle.'

Severus's eyes flicked towards the group. 'Who was with her during the last ten minutes?'

'I was,' Minerva said, stepping forward.

'Her vision didn't happen ten minutes ago,' Remus said. 'She had that vision several _hours_ ago.'

'Well what she saw was correct,' Severus declared. 'Someone had replaced my goat's gallstone collection with a cheap imitation. Very nasty consequences. There was indeed green smoke.'

I finally found the courage to turn back to the group, curious to see their reactions. All of them were staring from me to Severus, their mouths agape.

'Are… are you saying she's a Seer?' Harry demanded, the first to speak. 'She's a muggle!'

'No, not a Seer,' Dumbledore said in shock, standing slowly. 'Seers only make prophecies. They don't see specific events. They don't have visions.'

'Then who does?' I wanted to know.

There was a pause before Dumbledore replied. 'You,' he said with a smile, 'are the first.'

'What?' I choked. 'No. No, that's not true. Surely you have people who look into crystal balls –'

'They see symbols of the future, not events,' Minerva informed me.

'But… we know about stuff like this,' I struggled to explain. 'Muggles. We've heard of psychics or clairvoyants –'

'Wishful thinking,' Dumbledore shrugged. 'Seers are the closest link we have to the future. Well… they _were_ the closest link.'

'Don't count on me to do it again,' I said quickly, struggling to keep the panic from my voice. 'It… it could have been a fluke! I've never done it before!'

'Maybe it's because you've never been in the wizarding world before,' Remus said thoughtfully. 'Maybe being surrounded by magic has switched on your powers. Isn't it odd, who would have thought a muggle could have powers?'

'_Oh my God, this just gets worse and worse,_' I thought. I looked imploringly at the group. 'I think you've made a terrible mistake –'

'Here we go,' Harry grumbled under his breath.

I gritted my teeth in frustration. 'This,' I said lowly, 'has been the worst day of my life.' I felt hysteria rise, bubbling to the surface, and I laughed wildly. 'I have to… have to go! I have to get out of this ludicrous dream!'

'Emma wait!' Remus yelled as I turned and ran as fast as I could through the dining room doors.

I only made it down the corridor before he caught up to me and grabbed my arm, spinning me around.

'It's ok Emma, you're ok…'

'Oh my God, I'm not ok, this is CRAZY!'

I tried to wriggle free but Remus had an unexpectedly strong grip.

'I know this is hard to deal with but we really need you to pull through for us,' he said, a hint of pleading in his tone. 'We're in an awful lot of trouble, and you're our last hope.'

'Last hope?' I laughed, panic-stricken. 'I am not up for this, I am definitely not –'

'Emma _please_.' Remus placed his hands on either side of my face and forced me to meet his eyes. 'Do as Dumbledore says. Accept it, and it will come easier.'

I struggled for several more moments, stubbornly refusing to give in at first. But the know-it-all presence within me was washing through my body in waves, telling me to succumb, telling me I would be alright.

The hysteria ebbed slowly from my body as I allowed the presence to take over. Knowledge, soothing and strengthening, filled my mind. I took long, calming breaths. This wasn't like the control I had felt when I wanted to outdo Harry. This was true, absolute control. I would never lose it again. I knew now, knew that I could handle this. I was having visions. I was – modesty aside – the most powerful psychic in the magical world.

'Ok,' I said.

'Ok?' Remus asked carefully.

'Ok,' I repeated breathlessly. 'I am fine.'

'You're fine?' Remus asked in surprise.

I nodded, allowing the panic to flow completely from my body. 'Lead me to the Order.'

Remus raised his eyebrows. 'I'm impressed.' He turned without another word and I followed him back into the Great Hall.

I gazed over at Harry, who was still talking to Dumbledore. I knew in a split second that he had just said something rude and degrading about me. Without another word, I picked a potato up from Sirius's plate (I knew he wouldn't mind), and flicked it across the table. It flew with poisonous accuracy straight at Harry's forehead, bouncing off him and onto the table. Gravy dripped down his face as he stared up at me with absolute shock. I could tell from his expression that no one in this school had ever dared to cross him before. The Weasley twins had seen the incident from the far end of the table and roared with laughter.

'You're kidding me,' Harry said slowly as the chatter died down. 'Did you actually just do that?'

Everyone watched in shocked silence.

'I don't like you,' I said simply.

Harry stared at me in astonishment. 'This is unbelievable!' he suddenly exploded. 'Are you all hearing this?'

When no one said anything, he shook his head and stood violently. After one last glare around the table, he stormed away. I was well aware of the stares I was receiving, but I didn't care. I sat in the chair beside Sirius and spooned some peas onto the plate before me.

'And he thinks _females_ are emotional,' I said.

'That was brilliant,' the twins said together.

Remus snorted, trying to smother a laugh. The rest of the table looked as though they were struggling to contain their expressions of amusement. Sirius was sniggering into his brandy.

The chatter rose up once more, and I finished my meal as I spoke to Remus and Sirius. I sat back in preparation after dinner, and was not surprised to see the plate vanish.

'This is certainly a good sign,' Remus muttered in my ear.

'Now Emma,' Dumbledore smiled, leaning back in his chair. 'Shall we do a more formal introduction?'

I nodded politely, even though I already knew who everyone was, and Dumbledore gestured to the redhead section of the table.

'Some of the wonderful Weasleys,' he announced. 'From your side we have Molly, Ginny and Bill… then on this side there's Charlie, Fred and George.'

The family nodded in greeting. The children were a lot older than they were in the books, but I had expected as much.

'What about Ron and Percy and Arthur?' I inquired.

'Ron will be arriving tomorrow with the other students,' Minerva replied. 'Percy doesn't exist, Rowling made him up. Arthur is on a top secret mission at the moment with the remainder of the Order.'

I felt it unwise to ask any more, so I nodded and let Dumbledore continue with the introductions.

'Next to Molly is Mundungus Fletcher. Remus and Sirius you know. Alastor Moody is next to Sirius. Rubeus Hargrid beside Alastor. On this side, as you know, is Severus Snape.'

'You're all just how Rowling described you,' I said, glancing around the table. 'Are you concerned about exposure?'

'Muggles never believe books like that are actually real, lucky for us,' Molly Weasley said. 'Remember that chap who wrote the Wonderworld story? He was blamed to be on muggle drugs!'

'What Wonderworld story?' Bill Weasley frowned.

'Oh you know,' Molly encouraged. 'Arthur told me about it. A girl falls down a hole and lands in a strange world with talking flowers and smoking caterpillars –'

'Alice in Wonderland,' I helped.

'Right, that's the one!' Molly said excitedly. 'The wizard who wrote that story accidentally fell down a hole the Department was filling with unusable magic. He had all kinds of bizarre things happen and was in Saint Mungo's for quite a while after he was retrieved. He wrote the book during his recovery, I believe. Similar story with The Wizard of Oz – that title I can remember!'

'They all start off with muggles though,' Remus added. 'So they can appeal to the muggle market.'

'Right,' Ginny Weasley nodded. 'Mugglefolk love magic stories, I hear.'

'Rowling's wasn't able to wait for this year to finish,' Alastor Moody growled. 'Her publishers were on her to get an ending, so she just had to make one up. Lucky for us, I say.'

'We must keep any information about Emma silent,' Dumbledore said. 'If Voldermort somehow found out Emma was the key –'

'None of you call him 'You-know-who',' I realised, perhaps subconsciously stopping Dumbledore from finishing his sentence.

'No need,' Sirius shrugged. 'We're not afraid of him. We're going to kick his ass.'

''E's afraid of _us_ now,' Rubeus Hagrid agreed. 'Tha's why 'e 'asn't attacked 'Arry yet. 'E's desperate to find a way to beat 'im.'

'He can't just use the killing curse?' I queried.

'Harry is now and forever protected from the killing curse,' Dumbledore replied. 'His mother's sacrifice did not go to waste.'

'Unless he gives up his wand,' Sirius said quietly.

'Dessert is ready,' Dumbledore suddenly announced.

Sure enough, dessert popped up, and everyone dug into cake, ice cream and pudding. I had a tingling feeling that there was more that was supposed to be said, but I knew it could wait.

After dessert, I stood and went to the far end of the table with the Weasley family.

'Good evening,' George said. 'We hear you've come from a long way away.'

'Dumbledore won't tell us where though,' Fred added.

I slid into an empty seat. 'Do you know you were killed off the in the last book?' I asked.

'I died a hero,' Fred grinned proudly.

'Er, actually –'

'_I died a hero,_' Fred said again, frowning at me warningly.

I laughed. 'Very well. You died a hero.'

'Rowling killed off Lupin and Tonks too,' Charlie said. 'She was peeved at them for not giving her extra information.'

'I got lucky in the books,' Bill laughed. 'I got to marry a _Veela_.'

'You also got scarred badly,' I reminded him.

'When you're married to a Veela, I doubt it matters,' Bill winked.

'Oi,' Fred whispered, leaning across Charlie to get closer to me. 'Do you reckon you can do some of your hocus pocus for our new Hard Sour Lolly? We want to know if it's going to sell well.'

'The future has many paths and many destinies,' I told him. 'If I told you the answer, you would change its direction.'

As it happened, I had no idea what the real answer was.

'You sound like Trelawny,' George muttered, slumping in his seat.

I grinned to myself. I guess that means Trelawny was lying through her teeth, too.

'I am mortified that you would place me at the same level as that fraud,' I exclaimed in jest. 'You sir, are extremely lucky there are no potatoes around.'

The family laughed.

'That was definitely hilarious,' Bill chuckled. 'The look on Harry's face –'

All the boys imitated Harry's furious expression.

'He chucks some real fits sometimes,' George said.

'Famous people,' Fred groaned, shaking his head. 'They get so spoilt. And Sirius always used to let him off when he was young because he was the 'special' kid.'

'So you guys don't actually like Harry?' I inquired curiously.

'Nah, you gotta like Harry,' Bill disputed. 'He's not really that bad most of the time. He's just had a pretty rough life.'

Exhaustion crept up on me after that, and I said goodnight to the group. Minerva took me back to the Fourth Year common room in case I got lost.

* * *

I sat on the grass, feeling the soft blades beneath my hands. Sirius and Remus sat on either side of me, their eyes on the pink sky as they watched Harry zoom about the Quiddich field on his broom. I, however, was not interested in the sight before me. I had a terrible feeling in the pit of my stomach, and hadn't been able to shake it since I'd walked onto the pitch. I knew it was the psychic within me trying to tell me something, but either the vision was too big for my new abilities to handle, or it was being magically blocked.

I was doing my very best to relax my mind, as I had been all day, but it was proving to be difficult, especially while I was still trying to get used to this new world. I had spent the majority of the morning exploring the school, and most of the afternoon learning where the classrooms were and what kind of lessons to be expecting. Luckily, they all followed Rowling's books quite closely. Besides, I was sure my inner know-it-all would help me out if I really needed it.

'He's great, isn't he?' Sirius remarked proudly, breaking the long silence.

He glanced at me, as if I was supposed to be impressed with his godson. I made a non-committal noise in my throat.

'I think she's holding a grudge,' Remus explained when Sirius looked affronted.

'I would be happy to keep the peace between us if he would chill out and trust me,' I replied swiftly.

'Harry can't trust anyone new these days,' Sirius shrugged, picking at a clump of grass. 'Can't blame him, of course.'

'We've had plenty of betrayals littering our past,' Remus agreed.

I studied him carefully. 'Are you definitely alright?' I asked.

Remus frowned, perplexed. 'Yes… why wouldn't I be?'

'You didn't seem well yesterday,' I replied.

'You mean because you and Harry's bickering was driving me nuts?' Remus smiled teasingly. 'I think I'll manage.'

'But you looked… strange…'

'How so?' Sirius inquired, glancing from me to Remus.

'I'm not entirely sure,' I frowned. 'I'll figure it out eventually.'

'I'm ok,' Remus assured me. 'I think you should be more worried about yourself.'

'Me? Why?'

'If anyone finds out your our secret weapon, they'd do anything to get their hands on you.'

'This place is safe though, right?' I asked.

'From vicious attacks and dark arts? Yes,' Remus replied. 'But from Voldermort's spies, nowhere is safe.'

'And Severus?' I queried, though I was almost certain I knew the answer.

'Very loyal,' Remus promised. 'If not a little spiteful.'

'Do you think we would have let Rowling write about Severus being a double-agent if it were true?' Sirius said. 'It would blow his cover completely.'

'There's something else I wanted to ask you about the books,' I said cautiously.

'Mmm?' Remus asked absently, glancing at his gold watch.

'You and uh… Tonks…'

'Nymphadora,' Remus smiled.

'Right. Well, are you guys…?'

Harry suddenly zoomed over their heads towards the entrance.

'The students must have arrived,' Sirius realised.

'Another time,' Remus said to me, getting to his feet and dusting off his clothes.

A chill suddenly ran over me, and I shivered. The vision was desperately trying to appear. Sirius glanced sideways at me. 'Everything alright?'

'I'm not sure,' I said slowly. 'I'll let you know when it comes to me.'

The feeling was like an annoying little bird constantly flittering by my face. I knew it was there, but every time I tried to reach for it, it shot away.

I followed Sirius and Remus towards the entrance, but they had to act like professors as the students came in, so they couldn't stay with me. I stood awkwardly by a stone pillar, watching the hundreds of students mill around and make their way into the castle. At least the heavy feeling of the vision had faded.

I caught sight of Harry standing alone at the top of the steps, his eyes searching the crowd. People passed him silently, some gazing up at him wistfully but none stopping to chat.

'Thought you'd get a hero's welcome, with the attitude you carry around,' I muttered from behind him.

He didn't bother turning to acknowledge my presence. 'I don't allow people to speak to me,' he said under his breath. 'If you want to keep up appearances, I suggest you follow the others students' example.'

I marvelled at how much of a jerk one person could be.

I froze as a new image rushed into my head with the same intensity as my first vision. I frowned at the ground, trying to capture the sequence in my mind.

A blond boy… he was moving through the crowd… his face malicious as he caught sight of Harry…

Without realising what I was doing, I shoved Harry aside as a spark of green light shot across the place he had previously stood. I saw the blond boy glower at me as he passed, shoving his wand back into the back of his jeans.

'What the _hell_ did you do that for?' Harry hissed, regaining his balance and spinning to me.

'Did you not see the curse that missed you?' I asked sarcastically.

'Way to blow your cover as early as possible,' Harry growled, shooting threatening glances at the students who peered curiously at us.

'You're welcome,' I growled. 'Can I assume that was Malfoy?'

Harry didn't reply. Instead, he actually smiled and pushed past the crowd as he hastened down the steps. I watched as a bushy-haired girl embraced him joyfully, and a red-haired boy shook his hand.

Hermione Granger and Ronald Weasley.

They looked a lot more striking than how Rowling had described them. They walked up the steps with Harry, chatting happily and laughing. I didn't move as they passed me. Harry didn't give me a second glance.

I kept my eyes to the front, ignoring the bustling movement around me. I waited until the last person went into the castle before I turned and headed inside by myself.

Everyone was already in the Great Hall by the time I'd reached the Fourth Year's common room. I was unable to find my appetite, and I had no interest in joining an unfamiliar group of people. In fact, I was beginning to get weary again, as I had yet to catch up with the time zones. I slumped up the stairs to the girl's dormitory and flopped on my bed. I had only been lying there for a minute when the bushy-haired girl wandered in.

'Professor McGonagall said you'd be in here,' she smiled, plonking herself on a bed beside mine. 'I'm Hermione, but I wonder if you know that already?'

'Only because of the books,' I promised her. 'I'm Emma.'

'It's nice to meet you. I doubt a muggle has ever stepped foot on these grounds.'

'Can you really call me a muggle if I can do magic?' I asked, sitting up.

'The rules don't seem to apply to you,' Hermione replied, watching me curiously. 'Sorry,' she said, blushing when she realised she was staring. 'It's just… all very strange, isn't it?'

'No kidding,' I said wryly.

'You poor thing,' Hermione said sympathetically. 'Even muggle-borns find out about magic at an early enough age to accept it.'

'Well, I had help,' I told her. 'My… er – _abilities_ – are handy to have while I learn about this place.'

'Have you had dinner?' Hermione asked. I didn't even have a chance to reply before she hopped off her bed. Clearly, she already knew the answer. 'Come on, there's still loads of food left!'

I liked Hermione, which was probably the only reason why I followed her down to the Great Hall. Any other motive would not have gotten me in the same room as Harry Potter at that moment.

The place was still noisy and crowded when we arrived. There were enough students to fill the whole hall. I groaned internally when Hermione bounded up to a seat beside Ron and Harry.

'Squeeze over Harry,' she said, sliding into a chair.

Harry glanced up and me and immediately stood. 'I'm done,' he muttered, stalking away without another word.

'Ooo, he's just precious,' I growled sarcastically, taking the vacated seat.

'He just has trust issues,' Hermione assured me. 'This is Ron.'

Ron grinned at me and shook my hand. 'This is so cool. Will you tell me my future?'

I surveyed him carefully. 'You will marry a brown-haired girl and have a daughter named Rose –'

Hermione giggled at Ron's startled face. 'She's just quoting the Rowling book,' she said.

Ron's face fell. 'Oh.'

'But seriously Ronald, you shouldn't be too loud about all this,' Hermione lectured, glancing around. 'We can't have anyone listening in.'

I scanned the table, but no one seemed to be paying us any attention. Further down the row, a freckly brown-haired boy looked up and smiled at me. I smiled back, blushing slightly. He was cute.

'Are you telling me what to do again?' Ron demanded, interrupting my thoughts. 'We went through this last year –'

'_Ron_, this is _important_! You can't just go around asking her to predict stuff in front of other people!'

'Well _you_ just made such a big deal about it, I'll bet the whole table knows by now!' Ron hissed.

'Oh my gosh, guys, you're going to give me a migraine,' I moaned, getting up. 'Maybe I'll just go to bed.'

'Oh no, we're sorry,' Hermione squeaked, paling. 'We're always like this, just ignore us –'

'I'm really tired,' I apologised. 'It's not really you two. Have a good night, and I'll see you tomorrow morning.'

'It was nice meeting you,' Ron said.

I said goodbye and walked away, smiling to myself as I heard them restart their squabbling match.

'Now look what you've done Ronald!'

'Me? You started it!'

'I did not! _You_ did!'

* * *

Minerva found me a spare wand before classes started and gave it to me to 'use' during lessons. She assured me that the teachers would not ask me to perform any spells in front of the class, and Hermione, Ron or Harry would help me out secretly if need be. The most important thing was to convince the other students that I was just a regular transfer witch.

I headed down to the Great Hall for breakfast and sat beside Hermione at the Fourth Year table, as far away from Harry as possible. There were plenty of choices for food, and I helped myself to scrambled eggs and toast.

'Incoming,' Hermione suddenly said, glancing up.

I raised my gaze and pulled my plate instinctively towards me as dozens of owls swooped through the top windows. Ron jumped as a letter dropped in front of him.

'It's from your mum,' I accidentally blurted out.

'How did you know?' Ron asked in surprise after tearing open the letter and seeing for himself.

'Er –'

'Psychic's at it again,' I heard Harry mutter from the other end of the table.

An owl dropped a letter in front of him, and he went to grab it.

'Wait!' I cried, reaching across Ron and Hermione and knocking him back.

'What the hell's your problem?' he demanded.

'I wouldn't open that if I were you,' I warned.

Harry glared at me suspiciously, his hand moving back towards the letter. 'I don't think I need your help, muggle.'

I really, _really_ loathed him. I lunged forward and snatched the envelope away from him. The moment I touched it, there was a minor explosion and a terrible stinging sensation spread across my arm.

'Guess she was right Harry,' I heard Ron cough through the smoke.

Hermione gasped as the dust cleared and she caught sight of my hand. I grimaced when I saw the burns and blisters across my skin.

'Probably wasn't fan mail,' I muttered, shoving my hand in the nearest pitcher of water.

The entire hall was staring at us.

'Nothing to see here,' Ron waved cheerfully. 'Backfiring spell, happens all the time. Get back to your eggs!'

Hermione whipped out her wand and pulled my hand out of the water. I watched in amazement when she waved her wand in small circles over my arm and the burns healed over.

'Thanks,' I said as the stinging subsided. I glanced at Harry. 'Do you know how to say thank you?'

'It was probably your plan all along,' Harry snapped. 'You planted the letter so you'd be able to 'save' me and get me to trust you!'

'Harry, mate, I don't think that's what happened,' Ron said in alarm.

'Well then she's just stupidly exposed herself twice in a public area,' Harry snarled, getting to his feet. 'She's _supposed_ to be a secret.'

He stormed away in fury, and I turned to Hermione and Ron with my eyebrows raised. They both looked utterly horrified.

'I'll see you in class,' I said coolly, leaving my breakfast behind and walking away.

I was _so angry_. This was my destiny. My _damn_ destiny. I was put on this earth to protect an absolute idiot!

'Emma?' Minerva asked as I passed her. 'Where's Harry?'

'I don't know,' I replied, doing the very best I could to keep the anger from my voice.

'Well, your first class is with me, if you'd like me to show you where to go.'

I gratefully accepted her offer and followed her through the corridors to the Transfiguration classroom. I was the first student to arrive, and Minerva left to get her notes, so I sat at one of the seats by the window. I noticed all the desks had a feather and a piece of parchment on top.

Students began filing into the room a few minutes later, and I recognised the cute boy from the previous night. He smiled at me and took the next seat.

'Hi,' he greeted. 'I'm Seamus. Are you a transfer student?'

I vaguely remembered a Seamus from the books. 'Yeah. I'm Emma,' I greeted with a smile.

'I saw you with Harry this morning,' Seamus said slowly. 'You're not one of his fans, are you? He doesn't usually like people talking to him.'

'I can assure you, I dislike him immensely,' I replied, sensing that this was exactly what Seamus wanted to hear.

He grinned, confirming my suspicions. 'Well, you might be the only girl who does,' he said. 'I like you already.'

I laughed as Harry, Ron and Hermione entered the room. Hermione saw Seamus beside me and winked. Ron seemed taken aback, but Harry (not surprisingly), did not even look in my direction.

Hermione hastened over to the window and took a seat directly behind me, while Ron and Harry took seats in her row. This action became quite clear to me when Minerva walked in and told us to turn our feathers into quills and begin taking notes.

Hermione shot a spell out from behind me, and my feather transformed into a quill immediately, arousing no suspicions from Seamus. I turned my head slightly and mouthed a 'thanks' to Hermione, scribbling down notes as Minerva talked. There was a lot of technical language about transformations, and I didn't understand very much, but I wrote as much as I could down anyway.

I noticed Seamus scribbling down something on a piece of paper beside his notes, and he discretely passed it to me when Minerva wasn't looking. He had written _BORING!_ across the top, and had enchanted his picture of a porcupine to make it stand up, pull out one of its spines and thrust it into its heart. I couldn't help the small giggle that escaped my lips, and Seamus smiled, pleased.

The rest of the lesson passed agonisingly slowly, but Seamus made it bearable. He waited for me while the other students filed out, intent on taking me to my next class.

'Give us a minute, Finnigan,' Harry said as he, Ron and Hermione stayed back.

Seamus glanced at me in surprise. 'Actually, I was going to –'

'Move on,' Harry snapped.

Seamus glared at him, but I shrugged. 'Go on, Seamus. I'll see you in a few minutes.'

He still looked hesitant, but left after Hermione nodded. The moment he was gone, I crossed my arms furiously.

'There was no need to talk to him like that,' I growled.

'What the hell are you doing?' Harry demanded, ignoring me. 'You can't go romping about with other students.'

'Excuse me, _romping_?'

'You heard me. If you're here for the cause of the prophecy, then you'll stay in line. You will talk to no one but us.'

'Oh, I'd like to see you stop me,' I said icily.

Harry stepped forward, his face red with fury. 'You are supposed to be a _secret_ weapon. If you can get past this useless stage and actually be worth something, then you'll need to remain _a secret_. Get it?'

'I think I'd act more suspicious if I _didn't_ associate with other students,' I replied coolly.

Harry spun to Ron and Hermione. 'Back me up here guys,' he said.

Ron looked torn. 'Well, you both have good points…'

'I think I'd rather stay out of this,' Hermione said weakly.

Harry threw his hands up in the air and stormed out.

'What a spoilt brat,' I remarked.

Ron and Hermione didn't reply. I followed them, still stewing, down to the dungeons for Potions. The class hung around outside the door, waiting to be let in. It was for fairly obvious reasons that the Potions door remained locked until a professor arrived. I couldn't see Harry anywhere, but I spotted Seamus near the end wall and he waved to me. I made my way over to him, but was stopped as the blond boy from the previous day stepped in front of me. Malfoy.

'You're the new kid,' he said, staring me up and down. 'I saw you this morning take that exploding letter from Harry. Nice work, sticking up for our wonder-boy like that.'

I didn't answer, and I felt Ron and Hermione tense behind me. Seamus started moving through the crowd towards us, but Malfoy's attention was only on me.

'You got a crush on the school hero then?' he sneered. 'Follow him around like a bitch on a leash? Why did you take the letter from him, freak? Did you know it was going to explode?'

'Why?' I replied smoothly. 'Are you pissed off your prank hurt the wrong person?'

'Who says it was _my_ prank?' Malfoy asked calmly.

'Back off,' Seamus growled, stepping around Malfoy and standing between him and me.

'You've got two boyfriends then?' Malfoy sniggered. 'Can't tell which one you're better off with. The leprechaun blows things up, and Potter will get _you_ blown up.'

'Bad mouthing me again Malfoy?' Harry asked, appearing from the side corridor. He flicked out his wand casually, pointing it at the blond bully. 'Care to insult me to my face, coward?'

'Sure,' Malfoy said maliciously, his eyes fixed on Harry's wand. 'I was just mentioning how you have a talent for getting people blown up. Why, just look at where your dirty whore mother is now –'

I didn't have to wonder too long about what he was up to, because I noticed two burly boys in the crowd discretely pull out their wands and aim for Harry. I sighed internally. Here we go again…

Harry opened his mouth to say a spell and I dove towards him just as two streaks of green and red shot out from the burly boys' wands. We landed hard on the stone floor, scraping against the ground and knocking our heads on the wall. The curses crashed harmlessly above our heads. Malfoy grinned down at me in wonder.

'That makes three times,' he said, his eyes flickering from me to Harry.

I fell against the floor as Harry pushed me off him. 'Get _off_ you idiot!' he yelled to me, getting to his feet. 'God, don't you get it? Leave me alone!'

'Now now Potter, that's not a way to treat a girl who just saved you from a couple of particularly nasty curses,' Malfoy grinned.

Seamus rushed over and helped me up. 'Are you ok?' he asked as Severus appeared.

'Yeah,' I said breathlessly, shooting poisonous glares at Harry. 'Although I don't know why I bother.'

The class filed into the room after Severus unlocked the door.

'I don't know why, either,' Seamus said, frowning as Harry entered the dungeon. 'He's not worth the trouble.'

We went inside and I shuddered at the room's feeling. It was cold and dank and dark, with little stools surrounding big black caldrons everywhere. I sat at the same caldron as Seamus, making sure to keep close enough to Hermione if I needed any help.

'We will do some revision this week to get your skills up to speed,' Severus told the class. 'You will need to be in top form when we start, as we will be studying poisons.'

I caught the gleeful look on Malfoy's face, and I'm sure Harry, Ron and Hermione would have seen it too.

Way to put the gun in front of the psychopath.

I did what I could during the class to help Seamus with the potion we were brewing, but I had no experience with chopping and slicing and stirring, and apparently there was some skill to it.

'I didn't do a lot of Potions in my old university,' I apologised to Seamus as I apparently broke off a hawthorn bramble the wrong way.

'That's alright,' Seamus assured me, breaking off another branch. 'It's only your first day here. I get that it must be rough.'

We exchanged smiles. I was really starting to like him.

The class ended, and Severus told me to stay behind. Hermione was kind enough to wait outside the room for me while I spoke to the Potions teacher. I approached him cautiously, wondering what he was going to say.

He finished screwing on the lid to a bottle of a light brown liquid and glanced down at me from his desk.

'Well done today,' he said. 'You did even better than I could have hoped for a muggle.'

I was somewhat surprised at his kind words, but didn't let it show. If I was going to be the most powerful psychic in the world, I couldn't let myself be caught off-guard.

'Thank you,' I said.

'And not just in Potions,' Severus continued. 'I was also extremely impressed to see you protect Harry from those jinxes before class.'

'I didn't think you'd seen that,' I admitted.

'I see more than Malfoy thinks,' Severus said carefully. 'I want to catch him in the act, and I want him to believe he's getting away with things.'

'Why don't you just kick him out?' I asked. 'He's clearly into dark arts.'

'We need proof,' Severus said with a sigh. 'We can't just start kicking kids out. We have to _know_.'


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three - Dementors**

Hermione had saved a seat for me at lunch, and I slipped in beside her.

'Everything ok?' she asked, sipping at her juice.

'Fine,' I replied vaguely.

It helped to be secretive. No one would have any idea how much I actually knew, and I could learn a lot from listening.

'Seamus looks like he wants to join you,' Harry said from his lunch, without looking at either me or Seamus. Obviously, he didn't want me with him.

I glanced over at the brown-haired boy down the row, who smiled when he saw he had my attention. I threw Hermione an apologetic look before getting up and sitting beside my preferred company.

'You know,' Seamus said the moment I had taken my seat, 'for someone who really doesn't like Harry, you sure hang out with him a lot.'

'It's more out of necessity,' I said carefully.

'Why's that?' Seamus asked, helping himself to bread and butter.

'Protection.'

That wasn't so careful.

Seamus, luckily, took it the other way.

'I don't mean any offence, but even though Harry's good at keeping _himself_ alive, he's not very talented at doing the same for the people around him.'

'Hermione and Ron are still here,' I pointed out, rather disgusted with myself for sticking up for Jerk of the Century.

'They're lucky,' Seamus shrugged. 'But everyone else around him has been wiped out. I mean, it was hell with Cho –'

'Cho?' I asked slowly.

'Yeah, she was his girlfriend a few years ago. Heard about her death in the _Prophet_. Apparently, she was tortured so that Harry –' Seamus trailed off and shook his head. 'I don't like to talk about it. She was a good person.'

'So Harry hasn't let anyone speak to him since then,' I realised suddenly.

Oh, it was all making a ton of sense now. Harry was purposely keeping everyone at arm's length to protect them.

The thought had barely finished forming in my mind when a new horrible feeling exploded inside me.

My surroundings disappeared and I was somewhere else, in a moment of nothingness.

It wasn't the same as the strange vision that was trying to appear on the Quiddich pitch, it was something else. Something worse.

I felt it, like an enormous black wave within me. A Danger was approaching. A terrible Danger.

My throat constricted and I glanced around as the people in the hall slowly returned. They were all chatting and laughing, and the normality dragged me back into reality. The feeling of the Danger slowly faded.

I shook my head to clear my mind, adjusting to the sounds and sensations surrounding me.

'Are you ok?' Seamus was asking in concern.

Hermione and Ron were glancing over at me, worried looks on their faces. I rubbed my eyes, wondering if it had all been in my imagination.

'Er… I think so,' I said slowly. I got up quickly. 'I have to go. See you later.'

Seamus called out after me as I walked away, but I didn't want to speak to him. I strode right out of the castle and burst into the sunny grounds. How could there be any Danger in the world when the day was so bright and peaceful?

'Emma? Emma! Are you ok?'

I turned as Hermione and Ron rushed out after me.

'I'm fine,' I assured them.

'You looked pretty out of it,' Ron said in concern. 'Did you have a vision or something?'

'I'm not sure,' I replied slowly.

'You're not sure?' Hermione repeated, confused.

'It's really hard to explain,' I told her. 'I'm fine. You guys go back.'

'Should we call Dumbledore?' Ron asked.

'No, really. I'd let you know if it was something important.'

The two agreed and disappeared back into the castle, throwing uncertain glances over their shoulders as they left.

I waited outside until the end of lunch before heading back into the castle. To my surprise (though I didn't show it), Harry was waiting for me in the common room.

'Hello,' I said carefully.

'Come on,' he replied gruffly, not meeting my eyes. 'We have Defence Against the Dark Arts now.'

'You're going to take me to class?' I queried slowly.

Harry shrugged grudgingly. 'Suppose.'

'To what do I owe this… pleasure?' I questioned as we walked through the door and along the corridor.

'You're the psychic, you figure it out,' Harry snapped.

I frowned thoughtfully. Why would Harry show me where to go? I knew it wasn't to protect me, and I was certain he wasn't trying to be nice. If we were going to Defence Against the Dark Arts, it must have something to do with the class… or the teacher.

'Remus,' I realised immediately. 'You don't want any of the Order to know you've been treating me like dirt.'

Harry didn't say anything, and I knew immediately I was right. I rolled my eyes, and we walked in silence towards the classroom. Paintings called out to Harry cheerfully, though he didn't have the decency to reply. I felt obliged to try and make conversation, but I had no idea where to start.

'So…'

'If you lay a finger on Ron or Hermione, I will track you down and kill you, do you understand?'

I stopped speaking abruptly, shocked at the sharp tone. Harry was glaring at me so ferociously, I didn't know what to say. Finally, I found my voice.

'I'm not a spy,' I said calmly.

'We'll see,' Harry grunted.

'Dumbledore told you to trust me, didn't he?'

'How do you know that?' Harry snapped.

'You seem to have a short term memory. I'm a psychic, remember? I've been taken from my home and put here to protect you. The least you can do is be nice.'

'I didn't invite you to come here. Go home, I don't care.'

'Everyone else wants me here. They asked me not to leave.'

Harry stopped as he reached a classroom and pushed open the door. Most of the class were already inside, including Ron and Hermione, and Remus had set up a platform at the front of the room. Seamus waved to me, and I immediately made a beeline to sit beside him.

'Where do you think you're going?' Harry demanded, but I ignored him.

I was not impressed when I saw Malfoy enter the room. I definitely didn't feel comfortable when that creep was in sight.

When the class settled down, Remus got up onto the platform. 'We'll start the year off with some duelling,' he said with a smile. 'Just to brush up on our anti-jinxes. Any volunteers?' Harry immediately put his hand up, and Remus smiled at him. 'Well, of course. Anyone else?'

'I want to duel the new kid,' Harry said before another student could raise their hand.

Hermione gasped softly.

Remus seemed thrown. 'Uh… excuse me?'

'Well, we all want to see what the new girl can do, don't we?' Harry asked the class.

Everyone nodded and began to turn in their seats to look at me. Malfoy raised his eyebrows, his elbow slung over the back of his chair. I was feeling a horrible churning panic rise up inside me. I couldn't believe Harry was doing this to me. Hermione and Ron were both staring at me, transfixed in horror.

'Relax,' Seamus muttered in my ear. 'He normally does the disarming spell. You'll be fine.'

'Harry, I don't think this is such a good idea –' Remus said, glancing at me in concern.

No kidding it wasn't a good idea. I had no way to defend myself. Harry was going to curse me in front of the entire class. He was going to expose my lack of magic to everyone, including Malfoy. Was he completely stupid?

Harry was smirking at my panicked expression. 'Come on, newby. Pick up your wand and show me what you can do.'

'No, Harry, this definitely isn't a good idea,' Remus said.

I threw him a grateful glance, but Harry got out of his chair and went up to the front of the classroom. He muttered something inaudible in Remus's ear. I watched as the teacher's face changed somewhat, looking extremely uncomfortable.

'Very well,' he sighed after Harry pulled away. 'Emma, please come up the front.'

I couldn't believe this was happening. How could Remus do this to me? He was supposed to be looking out for me. Slowly, I stood up. It felt like a terrible nightmare as I dragged my feet along the ground towards the platform. Everyone in the class was staring at me. Malfoy watched, an interested expression on his face. Hermione pressed her hand over her mouth, her eyes wide.

I reached the platform and stepped up, facing Harry, my wand hanging uselessly by my side. I stared dully ahead, wondering how I was supposed to get out of this.

'Don't forget the proper duelling etiquette,' Remus said, mostly for my sake. 'Bow before you cast spells.'

I bowed unenthusiastically, and Harry jerked his head. Remus cleared his throat and stepped back. I could feel his eyes on me. Boy, I was going to give him such an earful when this class was over.

'On three,' he said, his voice cracking. I still didn't raise my wand. 'One, two… three.'

'Stupefy!'

I flew backwards across the room and slammed into the wall. Everything was spinning, I was struggling to breathe, and my entire body stung painfully.

'Aw, come on sir, she didn't even block it!' I heard Harry yell.

'Perhaps her reflexes aren't as good as yours,' Remus replied wearily. I heard him walking over towards him. 'Stay where you are Harry, and we'll play round-robin. Hermione, why don't you go next?' Remus helped me sit up, rubbing my back.

I coughed, struggling to regain my bearings.

'Are you ok?' he asked quietly.

'No,' I moaned, glaring at Harry as he and Hermione bowed to each other. 'Why did you let him do that?'

'I'll explain later,' Remus muttered under his breath. He helped me to my feet, and I limped back to my seat.

'He could have used the disarming spell,' Seamus growled when I joined him. 'What an ass.'

'Tell me about it,' I groaned, watching Hermione's wand flying into the wall. 'He doesn't treat me very nicely.'

'Then stop hanging out with him,' Seamus said. 'Stay with me, I'll look after you.'

I smiled gratefully at him. 'After today, I'm tempted.'

After class, Remus apologised profusely to me and explained his reasons behind letting me duel.

'Apparently Malfoy is getting very suspicious of your relationship with Harry,' he explained. 'We think Malfoy is on Voldermort's side. If Harry doesn't put up a very believable pretence of disliking you, I'm afraid Malfoy might catch on.'

'I don't think Harry has to pretend,' I grumbled.

'Are you two still fighting?' Remus inquired in surprise.

'He doesn't trust me,' I shrugged.

'Give him time,' Remus assured me. 'He'll come 'round. In the meantime, please, _please_ stick with him. Everyone knows about the prophecy involving Harry and Voldermort's fight, but it won't stop spies from trying to weaken Harry beforehand. We really need you watching out for him.'

I let out a long, tired sigh. It seemed I was never going to escape Harry Potter.

* * *

'I think it's time to stop this nonsense.'

I looked up from lunch as Seamus took a seat beside me.

'Hi,' I said guiltily.

Seamus nodded over to Harry, who was beside Ron and Hermione. 'Why are you still hanging out with him? The week's finished, and he hasn't treated _anyone_ the way he treats you.'

'Look, I really can't go into this –' I started apologetically, but Harry interrupted me.

'Finnigan, leave the girl alone. Can't you see she doesn't want to talk to you?'

'Stay out of this,' I snapped to him.

Ron and Hermione both sighed into their soup, but didn't say anything.

I turned to Seamus. 'I am so sorry about this,' I said. 'Please don't be mad. We still hang out.'

'I know, and I'm happy that we do. But why do you have to be near Harry at all?'

'It's a long story,' I said weakly.

As much as I hated it, I was glad I had been near Harry. I had saved him from an exploding acid bulb in Potions on Wednesday and a bewitched pair of scissors in Sirius's Charms class on Thursday. Of course, I didn't get a thank you, but the rest of the Order were extremely grateful for my work.

Seamus glared furiously at Harry and got up, storming away. I gazed after him guiltily.

'Cheer up,' Ron said, shoving an entire slice of bread in his mouth. 'Woi dun oo teow mu ma foocha?'

'Why don't you tell me my future,' Hermione automatically translated with a sigh as she picked up her juice.

'We have double Divination next, you can just find out for yourself,' I said with a grin.

'Great, we'll have two frauds in the same room,' Harry muttered under his breath.

'How many times have I saved your butt this week?' I demanded.

'Please don't start,' Hermione cringed.

Harry rose abruptly from his seat and left without another word.

'Good riddance,' I growled.

I knew I should have followed him, to keep him safe, but I just couldn't be bothered putting up with him. It was a Friday afternoon, and I had gone through too much this week to deal with the temper tantrums of a bratty world hero.

I noticed many of the girls from our table watch him leave with dreamy looks on their faces.

'How can anyone like him?' I asked in exasperation.

Hermione shrugged. 'Haunted hero, I guess,' she said. 'From the outside, it looks like he has a dangerous life filled with adventure and excitement. He's the dark, broody, silent type. Anyone who doesn't really know him finds him intriguing and mysterious.'

'And for those of us who _do_ really know him find him arrogant and moronic,' I added.

Hermione didn't reply.

'Come on, he's alright,' Ron said, finally finishing his bread. 'Just not to you,' he added quickly when he saw the look on my face.

We finished lunch and headed up to the Divination room, which was up a very large and sickeningly spirally set of stairs. We passed a window and I felt a terrible weight in my stomach when I saw the Quiddich pitch. I didn't understand why the field gave me such cold shivers, and I wished the vision which had been trying to appear all week would just happen already.

As for the approaching Danger I had felt on the first day of classes; that had not returned. I was very thankful for its absence, and hoped it had all been in my head.

'I wonder what kind of crap Trelawny's going to dish to us this year,' Ron mused. 'I hope she sticks with stuff we can just make up. Astrology was terrible – we had to draw up Planet Charts and do calculations…' He shuddered, to make a point.

'Didn't you quit Divination?' I inquired, turning to Hermione.

'In the books, yes,' Hermione replied. 'Not in real life. We all have to keep an eye on her, in case she makes another prediction. It was extremely lucky I was there when she made the prophecy about you.'

'What was the exact wording?' I asked curiously, trying not to appear thrown off by the fact that Hermione had been the one to hear the prophecy.

'It was just one line,' Hermione told me. '_She without the magic of our world will be the key to victory in the Great Battle ahead.'_

My stomach felt like it had dropped a hundred kilometres. 'It… doesn't actually say whether I will help or hinder Harry,' I said slowly. 'What if I'm the key to _Voldermort's_ victory?'

'Dumbledore swore to us that you were on our side,' Hermione shrugged. 'I assume he knows something we don't.'

'Dumbledore knows a _lot_ of things we don't,' Ron agreed.

'How did he find me?' I had to know. It wasn't like me to ask this many questions and expose my ignorance, but curiosity had finally gotten the better of me.

'Nobody knows,' Hermione replied. 'Not even Sirius or Remus. I asked them on Monday, and they both said that Dumbledore told them exactly where to go to pick you up. He didn't say how he knew where to look, or how he knew you were the muggle in the prophecy.'

'What if he's wrong?' Ron asked uncertainly, glancing at me.

'I think we both know that he's right,' Hermione said, shooting me a smile. 'Besides, when have you ever known Dumbledore to be wrong?'

'Good point,' Ron puffed as we reached the Divination classroom. 'Man, I forgot how awful that climb was.'

I peered over the railing and immediately regretted it as a dizzy, sick feeling washed over me. We were high, and the steps were winding, and it was not a good sight.

'Come on,' Hermione laughed as I groaned. 'Let's get this over with.'

The classroom was circular and comfortable, with cushioned stools and round wooden tables. No students had arrived yet. A lady that I could only imagine was Trelawny sat in the middle, flipping over rows of Tarot cards.

'Awesome,' Ron grinned quietly. 'Looks like this is going to be a breeze. I can do Tarot cards.'

Trelawny glanced up, her eyes indeed magnified by her glasses, just as Rowling had described. 'Are you new?' she asked me.

I nodded silently, and she got to her feet, shuffling over to me. She grasped my hands and closed her eyes, humming under her breath. Ron and Hermione exchanged grins. After many uncomfortable moments, Trelawny opened her eyes again.

'I am sorry my dear, it doesn't look like you have any gifts for understanding the future.'

Ron and Hermione turned away, covering their mouths as they snorted and sniggered. I blinked and stared up at Trelawny.

'Seriously?' I asked in disbelief. 'You're… actually serious?'

'No immediate power,' Trelawny nodded. 'But perhaps you can work through it, in time.'

She turned and shuffled back to her desk, and I glanced at Ron and Hermione.

'_Oh my god,_' I mouthed to them, and they both laughed loudly.

The rest of the class arrived very soon after, and we all took seats on the stools. I sat with Ron, Hermione and Harry around one table, and glanced over at Seamus, who was sitting with some other Fourth Years.

'Choose a partner,' Trelawny said, putting on a very mystical voice as she wandered around the classroom. 'Hold their hands and allow the Inner Eye to delve into their depths. You must have a strong connection with your subject to pass on their universal vibrations into the Tarot cards.'

Hermione rolled her eyes and shifted to face me. Harry and Ron both sighed heavily, looking glumly at one another.

'No offence mate, but I don't think I want to sit in this classroom holding your hand,' Ron said.

'I'm with you,' Harry agreed, and I had a terrible feeling I knew where this was going.

Ron turned to Hermione. 'Mind if I go with you?'

'I'll go with you,' I said quickly, desperately.

'Nah,' Ron grinned, shooting a glance to Harry. 'Maybe you two should be partners. You need some time together. Besides, you're supposed to be protecting him, remember?'

I clenched my teeth in frustration. Harry glared at the ground.

'Come on, come on, get started,' Trelawny told the hesitant class in irritation.

Ron held his hands out for Hermione to take, and the two sat silently, looking rather bored as they waited for the next part of the class. I let out a long sigh and held out my hands, wondering if Harry was simply going to refuse to take them. However, after a moment, he groaned and reached out.

The moment his skin touched mine, I felt a spark rush through my hands. I yelped, pulling away quickly.

'What's your problem?' Harry demanded.

'Er… I don't know,' I said breathlessly, ignoring the curious glances from my classmates. I shook my fingers nervously. 'Something happened.'

'What?' Hermione wanted to know.

'I'm not sure,' I said slowly, reaching out again. Harry rolled his eyes and grabbed my hands once more. 'Don't you feel that?' I asked him as the strange sparks zapped against my skin.

'Feel what?' Harry sighed.

I pursed my lips. 'It's almost like an electric shock… but different.'

'Maybe you're feeling his magic,' Hermione suggested.

I met Harry's eyes, gazing quizzically into the green depths…

To my horror, the Danger feeling reappeared. My expression became one of dread, and I felt the colour drain from my face. It was back, as strong as ever. It hadn't been my imagination; there really was a Danger, something so terrible that it actually scared me –

Before I could tell the others, a new feeling overrode the Danger, and a vision exploded into my brain. I could see a darkness drifting towards the castle… black cloaks… icy grounds...

'Emma? What's wrong?' I snapped out of it, and Hermione's worried face came into view. Harry had let go of my hands, and he and Ron were staring at me in surprise. 'Are you ok?' Hermione asked, glancing around and lowering her voice. 'Did you see something?'

I nodded numbly, too shocked to speak. I stood abruptly, spinning and running from the classroom. Sprinting down hundreds of spiral steps is most possibly the worst thing anyone can do, and that includes fit people like myself. Just in case you were wondering.

I kept my hand on the stone castle wall to maintain my balance, throwing glances out of every window I passed. The sun was still up… I still had time…

I didn't know how to get to Dumbledore's office, so instead I burst into Remus's Defence Against the Dark Arts room, gasping for air. The bunch of First Years he was teaching turned to me curiously.

Immediately, Remus seemed to understand the urgency of what was happening, and told his students to continue with theory work until he returned. He rushed over to me, bustling me out of the door while we hastily made our way to the Head office. I couldn't breathe from all the running, so I couldn't tell him what was happening. We reached a stone gargoyle in one of the passageways and Remus said the password ('Cadbury', I almost laughed).

We followed the steps up to Dumbledore's office and knocked on his door. I finally recovered as we entered, and I sat down at the chair opposite the Headmaster.

'Dementors,' I panted, wiping my sweaty forehead with my sleeve. 'They'll be here tonight. Voldermort sent them. I've been trying to have that damn vision for the whole week, but it was too big.'

Dumbledore's eyebrows flew up in shock. 'Dementors? Here? In the grounds?'

I nodded, swallowing hard. 'They'll attack during dinner.'

Dumbledore got to his feet and wandered around behind me. 'So he's found a way through my shields,' he said thoughtfully. 'On a new moon, no less. Very well Emma, we shall be ready by sunset. I can't begin to thank you enough for your efforts. Head to the Great Hall. I'll start the preparations.'

'And the students?' Remus asked, looking slightly pale.

Dumbledore returned to his desk, taking out his wand and pointing it to a knot in the wood.

'Attention,' he said calmly. 'All students into the Great Hall immediately. Teachers, please lead your class in an orderly manner.' He pressed his wand against another knot. 'Please prepare the Great Hall in Shelter Mode.'

Dumbledore took his wand off the table and gazed up at me, his eyes piercing into mine.

'How are you going to ward them off?' I asked. 'There'll be a lot.'

'I've invented a Guard much like the muggle security system,' Dumbledore told me. 'It uses a lot of power, however, and will have to be turned on just before the dementors attack.'

'Where is the Guard?' Remus asked, but I already knew the answer.

'The Quiddich pitch,' I realised, finally understanding why the feeling had appeared when I looked out onto the field.

Dumbledore smiled at me. 'You are certainly something, Emma.'

I didn't reply.

'We'll need a lookout,' Remus organised, 'to let us know when the dementors are almost on us. The Astronomy tower is the best place.'

Dumbledore tilted his head towards him. 'I trust you and Professor Black will be able to handle that?'

'Of course,' Remus said, glancing at me. 'Is there anything else…?'

'That will be all,' Dumbledore assured him.

Remus gripped my shoulder. 'Stick with Harry,' he said, a hint of pleading in his tone. 'He won't let you get hurt.'

Personally, I thought I'd be safer as far away from Harry as possible, but I didn't say anything. Instead, I nodded shortly and watched Remus hurry out of the office. I turned back to Dumbledore, who was surveying me over his steepled fingers.

'I am inclined to agree with Professor Lupin,' he said, watching me carefully. 'Please remain with Harry throughout the evening, regardless.'

'Ok,' I sighed, unable to argue with the elderly wizard.

I turned and left, feeling exceptionally grumpy and more than a little scared.

Dusk approached too rapidly for my liking, and I paced the Great Hall nervously, continually glancing out of the windows.

'What's this all about then?' I heard one of the students complain to his friend. 'We've been stuck in here for hours and nobody will tell us what's going on.'

'I reckon Voldermort's out there right now,' his friend said. 'I reckon Harry's fighting him as we speak. The prophecy is about to come true!'

'Don't be daft. Harry's right over there, you git.'

I glanced over at Harry, who was speaking to Minerva in the far corner. Hermione and Ron were close to him, their white faces reflecting their fear. There weren't many people in the Great Hall who knew exactly what was going on, and I wasn't sure I wanted to be one of them. Right now, I'd prefer to be one of the ignorant ones, discussing with my friends silly theories about what was happening outside.

I didn't want to know exactly what was coming for us, and I especially didn't want to be the one who had to stick with Harry. I had a terrible feeling he would be taking a trip outside sometime tonight, and I certainly had no desire to follow.

I caught sight of Seamus, who was swinging his glare between myself and Harry, looking very suspicious. I felt sorry for him. I wished I could tell him what was going on, and that I was not the least bit interested in Mr Jerk/Hero. If only there was some way I could tell him I liked him –

'Emma.'

I turned, refraining from jumping in surprise when I found Harry behind me.

'What's up?' I asked.

'I'm going outside to back Dumbledore up while he switches on the Patronus Guard. Stay here.'

'No can do,' I said with a sigh. 'I have to come with you.'

'Excuse me?' Harry demanded.

'Dumbledore's orders. You're not going to directly disobey him, are you?'

Harry grinded his teeth. 'I doubt Dumbledore knew I would be going out there. He'd tell you to stay here.'

'How do you know?' I disputed. 'He said _regardless_ that I was to stick with you.'

Harry pointed to the enormous dining room door, fury etched across his face.

'I am going out there with who-knows-how-many dementors. They can suck out your soul, did you know that? If I have to look after you, I'll get distracted and end up losing my soul. How am I supposed to fight Voldermort without a soul? Huh?'

'I'm so touched to hear your concern for me,' I drawled. 'Unfortunately, I am still obligated to come with you.'

Harry threw up his hands in exasperation. 'Your funeral.'

He stalked towards the front doors, and I followed determinedly. I was not daft enough to notice all the jealous-looking girls that watched me leave with Harry. Hermione was right. They thought of Harry's life as one big fun adventure. Little did they know I would have gladly switched places with any of them right at this moment.

Harry nodded to Minerva and Severus as he left. I followed Harry out of the Great Hall and towards the Quiddich pitch, gnawing at my lip nervously.

'This was such a bad idea, bringing you along,' Harry grumbled, glancing at me. I quickly released my lip, arranging my face into what I hoped was a brave expression. 'You can't do _any_ magic, let alone a Patronus Charm. I'm going to have to end up protecting you the whole time.'

'It's the other way around,' I pointed out. '_I'm_ protecting _you_, remember?'

Harry shot me a dirty glare. I rolled my eyes behind his back. Apparently, the curses and hexes I'd saved him from during the week didn't count as protection.

The sky was now a velvet blue, and dark shadows swum across the grounds as we hurried out into the cool night air. The Quiddich pitch loomed below us.

'Do you see Dumbledore?' I asked.

'Quiet!' Harry hissed. I made a face at him in the darkness. He turned back to me. 'You stay here, I'm going to get into the grandstands.'

'Stay here? You want me to _stay here_? I'm out in the open!'

'Then go stand behind a tree or something,' Harry said shortly.

'I'm supposed to help you!'

'I don't want your help!' Harry exploded.

'Well I don't want to help you either!' I yelled back. 'But I have to! _Trust me_, I'd rather be in the Great Hall waiting for the 'heroes' to get back than to be out here, prancing about with dementors!'

'Prancing?' Harry shouted. 'I'm saving the bloody students from a fate worse than death!'

'Good job, I'm happy for you,' I spat.

'You think I _want_ to be out here? I'd rather be in the Great Hall too, but _no_! I get to grow up without a family and sacrifice _everything_ to save the world! I'm _so_ lucky! You have no idea –'

'Harry.'

'_What?_'

'Dementors.' I lifted my hand and pointed to the sky, where horrible black shapes were swirling around the pitch like grotesque clouds.

'Oh great,' Harry said, a slight panic in his tone. 'Just great. You got me depressed about my life. How am I supposed to use the Patronus Charm when I can't think of anything happy? _Why did I bring you along?_'

'Where's Dumbledore?' I asked, trying desperately to keep calm.

As though in answer to my question, a silver streak dashed across the field, and I saw a Patronus speed up one of the goal hoops to a dark figure standing on top. I could just make out a coat and beard flapping in the breeze as the figure raised his wand.

Before he could do anything, however, two dementors swooped down on him in spirals, like a double helix.

'HARRY!' I shrieked, but Harry was already sprinting down the hill towards the pitch.

I hesitated only for a millisecond before following him. If I died tonight, I was going to haunt that Jerk for all eternity. I put my head down and ran faster than I'd ever moved as I tore after Harry. I slowed when I saw several dementors circling the perimeters of the pitch.

Although I had never seen them before, or felt their effects, I was extremely terrified of the creatures. Their presence was vulgar and horrifying. I ducked beneath a grandstand as one passed close by, holding my breath. I struggled to recall some facts about dementors from the books. I was pretty sure they could sense humans, which was extremely disconcerting. It would only be a matter of time before they knew I was here. Harry had disappeared from sight – he was probably already on the pitch, warding them off to help Dumbledore. I peeked out onto the field, searching for signs of life. I could see streams of dementors flowing around a spot in the middle of the pitch, and my heart jumped to my throat. It was Harry.

I stepped forward, and gasped as a black coat whipped my face. A dementor streamed past me onto the pitch, ignoring me completely. They were clearly focussed on Harry. I wasn't doing a very good job of protecting him. He would have been able to make a Patronus if I hadn't depressed him. Maybe I should have just stayed in the Great Hall instead of following him outside.

'_Harry!_' I shrieked in fear. 'Harry, are you ok?'

To my relief, a silver light appeared, blinding me for a second as the dementors scattered up into the air. I stepped out onto the field, scanning the centre for the origin of the light, but jumped back as a dementor flew towards me. I screamed, covering my head as though my arms would protect me from its effects, but already I was feeling cold all over.

It didn't happen slowly, like I had imagined, but swiftly and painfully. One moment, I was ok (if not a little scared); the next I felt like my whole world was a massive blackness. I remembered the previous Saturday, when my life came crashing down to my knees. My break up, my termination from the company, my utter sense of loss and despair…

I sunk to my knees, moaning as the Dementor circled close, its icy cloak brushing against my skin. I had nothing left, nothing at all. No one wanted me, no one needed me, no one even knew I had left the country…

* * *

'Emma? Emma, can you hear me? Open your eyes.'

I shifted, stirring as someone shook me. A firm grip clasped my shoulders, digging into my skin. I opened my eyes to find Dumbledore standing over me.

'Quick, give her this.'

Someone shoved a piece of chocolate into my mouth, and I choked slightly.

'Chew and swallow,' Dumbledore told me gently.

'What happened?' I asked when the chocolate made its way down my throat. I was suddenly feeling a lot better.

'A Dementor attacked you,' Remus said grimly from my left. Sirius was beside him. 'How are you?'

It slowly dawned on me that I was in a comfortable bed. Ron and Hermione were standing at the foot of my bed, looking extremely concerned. Candles flickered around the room, illuminating the hospital ward.

'I'm ok,' I managed to choke out. 'I… don't even remember passing out.'

'It happens fast,' Dumbledore said. 'But you'll be alright. The school is protected. The Guard is up, and everyone's safe.'

I let out a long breath. 'Thank goodness. Those dementors were _horrible_.'

'You could see them?' Remus asked carefully.

I frowned, puzzled. 'Yeah, of course. They were everywhere.' I knew I was missing something important when everyone exchanged glances. 'What?'

'Muggles can't see dementors, Emma,' Hermione breathed.

'Oh,' I murmured, not quite sure how to absorb that particular piece of information. There was an awkward silence. I was keen to break it. 'Where's Harry?' I asked, sitting up.

The world spun slightly from the action, and I shook my head to clear my vision. Remus pressed his hand firmly against me and forced me to lie back down.

'He is in the Great Hall, with the other students. He's fine.'

'He wouldn't have been if it wasn't for you,' Dumbledore said, gazing down at me through his half-moon spectacles.

'I didn't do anything,' I said guiltily.

'Your voice snapped him out of it,' Dumbledore disputed. 'He was very lucky you were there.'

I wondered if perhaps he had known what was going to happen, then remembered _I _was the psychic.

'It's horrifying, isn't it?' Hermione asked knowingly. 'Going off on one of Harry's little 'adventures'. Not exactly what all the other girls daydream about.'

I didn't say anything, though I thoroughly agreed with her.

After Madam Pomfrey double-checked to make sure I was alright to go, I followed the others back to the Great Hall. The students were still grouped together, chatting as they nestled into sleeping bags which had been conveniently provided. I wondered why they were still there, if everything was safe.

'I've kept them there for the night, just in case,' Dumbledore told me, as if reading my mind.

People turned to me as I walked in, their inquisitive eyes burning into me. Most girls shot me jealous glares, while the rest simply looked confused.

'What am I going to tell people?' I murmured under my breath. 'About why I went outside with Harry?'

'Harry has already taken care of that,' Dumbledore assured me as he swept towards the other teachers. 'He's had a rumour spread that we needed bait for tonight, and that you volunteered.'

I cringed at that, and my worries were confirmed when I caught sight of Seamus shooting a venomous glare at me before turning away. Great, just what I needed. I let out a sigh, hesitating as the others gathered around Harry by a side wall. I didn't want to join them, but I happened to catch Malfoy grinning at me maliciously from his sleeping bag not far from where I was standing, and I hastily walked to Hermione.

'Look who's finally back,' Harry said gruffly without actually turning to me. 'I was just wondering why it took you so long to wake up. Only people with real problems get affected that badly by dementors.'

'Alright that's enough,' Hermione said sharply, surprising all of us. 'Harry, you have got to stop this. She saved your soul tonight, and no spy would have passed up an opportunity like that. I think it's time you acted a little more graciously.'

'_Thank_ you!' I exclaimed, feeling a mass of relief that someone was finally sticking up for me.

Harry pursed his lips, glared sullenly at me and stalked away without another word. I felt so frustrated that I wanted to scream, but that certainly wouldn't suit my attempt to act in constant control. An uncertain expression crossed Hermione's face, and she swiftly ran after Harry, shooting a guilty glance in my direction. I threw up my hands in exasperation and Ron patted my shoulder awkwardly.

'It'll all be fine,' he said in a very unconvincing tone, 'but I suppose you already know that.'


	4. Chapter 4

**

* * *

**

Chapter Four – Werewolf

I decided that weekend that the only way I was going to protect Harry was from a distance, a _very_ far distance. Hermione tried hard to talk me into hanging out with them, but I had completely given up. It wasn't worth the insults and cold glares to stick with the trio. What made things worse was that Seamus avoided me. I couldn't talk to him, and on Monday morning he made sure to sit as far away from me as possible. During Potions, when he was my partner, he said barely a word to me. It was after a very lonely lunch that help came in the form of Remus. He seemed to pick up on my lack of acquaintances, and held me back after class finished.

'What's wrong Emma?' he asked in concern when the last student left the room.

I shook my head and sighed. 'I just feel like I'm wasting my time here,' I muttered after a moment's silence. 'I can't help someone who doesn't want to be helped.'

'You've done a good job so far,' Remus grinned.

The sun came out from behind a cloud and light streamed in weakly from the window, catching clouds of dust in the air. I noticed a film of dust across Remus's tattered cloak and brushed it off absently. He shifted and I glanced up, catching his eye.

In that moment, his face changed and his eyes became yellow and vicious, and his snout twisted into a snarl as he darted forward to take a bite of me –

I shrieked and stumbled back, shaking my head to clear the vision.

'Emma? Emma, what's wrong, what did you see?'

I looked up and Remus was normal, albeit slightly startled.

'You… you…' I gasped, trying to gather my bearings. 'You're a werewolf.'

Remus frowned, puzzled. 'You already knew that,' he said.

'No… no, I mean it's going to happen – I mean… you're…'

'Slow down, calm yourself,' Remus said, gripping my shoulders in a comforting manner. 'Tell me what you saw.'

'I saw you as a werewolf,' I said as my breathing returned to normal.

'That's it? Nothing else?'

'Nothing else? That's a pretty big thing, don't you think?'

'Yes, but not impossible. Did you actually see a vision, or just me as a werewolf?'

'W…what?'

'For example, did you see me turn into a werewolf in a certain place? Did you see me bite someone?'

I wasn't following where he was going with this. 'No,' I said, confused, 'but…'

'Is it possible that your vision was just a warning of who I am?'

I stopped and looked at Remus in bewilderment. 'What?'

'If you're the key to Harry's victory, and you can help us sort out the spies, don't you think you'll get visions of people's inner nature?'

'But –'

'Just hear me out, ok? You saw me as a werewolf. If you hadn't already known that, then your vision would have been very important. As it is, you were aware of the situation, and also know I am taking a potion to suppress it entirely.'

I was finally starting to understand what he was saying. 'Are you telling me it wasn't actually a vision, but just knowledge?' Remus nodded, but I still couldn't help feeling uneasy. 'I have knowledge of other things, but they didn't come to me in the form of visions.'

'Well, this is a pretty big thing to know,' Remus said.

'I'm still not sure about this,' I said uncertainly.

'I _promise_,' Remus assured me, 'the potion that I'm taking has been working for me for years. Severus makes it himself. I'm fine.' When I still didn't look convinced, he smiled. 'If it's bothering you that much, talk to Dumbledore and we'll sort something out.'

I nodded, leaving the room with a tense knot in my stomach. I didn't want to speak to Dumbledore about it if I turned out to be wrong, because that didn't exactly put my visions in good favour. But I surely had to do something, because it wasn't worth losing lives if I was right. The problem was, there was only one person who I didn't care being wrong in front of, and I _really_ didn't want to talk to him.

* * *

It was Herbology last period, and I snatched a chance to speak to Harry in private when we partnered up to prune the leaves of the acid bulbs from the previous week.

I caught a surprised expression flicker across Harry's face when I joined him, but it soon changed into a scowl.

'I was so hoping you'd given up on me,' he muttered under his breath.

'I'm not in the mood Harry,' I said sharply.

My tone and the use of his name must have caught him off-guard, because he didn't have an immediate comeback, but he gathered his wits quickly enough. 'Let me guess, you've got another grim prediction to warn me about,' he drawled.

'Maybe,' I said carefully, keeping my voice low and the sound of my shearers high. 'I don't know.'

That, unfortunately, got the reaction I was expecting.

'You _don't know_?' Harry smirked, thankfully using a whisper. 'The great psychic doesn't know something? Watch out, I think the universe is going to implode.'

'Can you shut up for a second?' I snapped, straining not to lose my patience. 'Remus says it's nothing, so it's making my judgement uncertain.'

'If Remus says it's nothing, then it's nothing,' Harry said indifferently, snipping at a leaf.

I stopped for a moment while I resisted the urge to rip the bulb in half and laugh as the acid sprayed all over his face, before composing myself. 'I think he's in trouble.'

At last, at long long last, I had Harry's true attention. He froze, his shearers halfway through cutting off another stem. A moment later, he put the shearers down and looked up at me with a vicious expression on his face.

'If you hurt him –'

'It's nothing to do with me,' I growled, cutting off his threat. 'I think something's wrong with him, or at least the potion he's taking. I had a vision of him as a werewolf, but he's just brushing it aside.'

'I see,' Harry said, laughing bitterly as he backed away from me. 'I know precisely what you're doing. You're trying to make me confused, getting me to doubt Remus, or Severus. You're trying to plant lies in my mind so that I don't know who to trust.' He leant forward, a dark expression on his face. 'I've got news for you little miss psychic. I trust all of them with my life. The only one I don't trust is _you_.'

I slapped a hand over my face and moaned. 'Harry, you're not listening to me –'

'You've got it,' Harry snarled. 'I'll never listen to you. I'm not going to let anyone trick me, especially not a complete fraud like you.' He turned and stalked out of the greenhouse, shooting a quick word to Professor Sprout as he left. My head slumped into my arms against the desk in defeat. I didn't bother finishing the work, and spent the rest of the lesson stressing instead. When class was over, Hermione and Ron looked as though they were coming over to talk to me, but Seamus beat them to it, and they wandered hesitantly out of the greenhouse.

'I don't know why you lied to me, but I hope you know I'm really mad at you,' Seamus said angrily.

'Yeah, I figured as much,' I said tiredly. I had so much to worry about at the moment, Seamus was the least of my problems.

'Don't you want to know why?' Seamus demanded.

'I suppose it's because I'm still hanging out with Harry even though I told you I don't like him,' I shrugged.

Seamus seemed put off. 'Well… yeah,' he said in a slightly less angry tone. 'Why are you doing it?'

'It's a long story, and I can't really tell you,' I muttered, starting for the door.

'I thought you were really nice,' Seamus said, still following me.

'If it makes you feel any better, I still don't like him,' I said shortly.

'But you can't tell me why you have to hang out with him?'

'Nope.'

'But you don't actually _want_ to?'

'No, I don't.'

'Huh.' Seamus was silent for a while. 'Is this one of those secret Voldermort things?' he asked after a moment.

Yikes. 'No, no way, not even close,' I said extremely quickly. Wow, I was not so good at acting casual. 'It's just something Dumbledore wants for now,' I added a little more slowly.

'So… can _we_ still hang out?'

I stopped walking and turned to him, catching a hopeful expression on his face. I smiled, despite my bad mood. 'Yeah, of course.' He returned the smile, and I thought it best to add, 'as long as you promise not to ask anything about Harry.'

'Ok,' Seamus said cheerfully, and started immediately chatting to me about Quiddich. He had spoken about it a fair bit during the previous week, so I was up-to-date on the latest news and could now at least nod at the right times. I felt a bit better having him back on my side, but my vision of Remus still nagged at my mind, keeping me from actually enjoying myself.

I did at least have a very nice conversation with Seamus during dinner, and he did a few neat magic tricks for me which made me laugh. I wasn't even aware that we were being watched until we got up to head towards the study area together.

'Finnigan,' a familiar cold voice snapped. 'I need a word with the girl.'

I caught Seamus grinding his teeth as he turned to Harry. 'I don't believe you ever had the right to order people around, Potter,' he snapped. 'Even if you are the _messiah_.' From the way he said 'messiah', I had a good indication that Seamus didn't think Harry would be saving anyone.

'It's alright Seamus,' I said with a heavy sigh. 'I'll meet you in the study area.' When Seamus didn't move, I added, 'I promise. Later, alright?'

Seamus begrudgingly left, and I folded my arms in preparation for the onslaught of abuse.

'What have I told you about hanging out with anyone else?' Harry demanded.

'I don't care,' I said. 'And you might find people will do what you ask if you would only ask them nicely.'

'I haven't got time for niceness, I've got a world to save,' Harry growled.

'And a fine job you're doing so far,' I snapped.

'What?' Harry said in a quiet, yet awfully deadly, voice. 'What did you say?'

I felt like provoking him, and it might have been because I had been provoked myself. 'I'm just observing,' I said quite freely, 'for all this talk of you saving the world, you seem like an ordinary jerk to me.'

Harry laughed, not out of amusement, and pinched the bridge of his nose to control himself. 'You have no idea,' he whispered fiercely.

'Of course I don't, you haven't said anything to me except insults,' I replied shortly.

'What do you think the late night study sessions were for?' Harry exploded. 'What do you think I spend all my free time doing? What exactly have you been concentrating on while you've been following me around for the past week?'

I was at a bit of a loss here. All I saw him do outside of class was study and practice spells. It dawned on me that he didn't do a whole lot of anything else. He was learning everything he could to fight Voldermort, and that was it. It was like his whole life only existed for the battle that was coming up.

While I was still musing on this, and feeling slightly guilty, Harry shook his head and stormed away.

'Hang out with Finnigan then,' he called out behind him. 'It's better than following us around.'

Despite how much I hated him, I couldn't help feeling pretty terrible after that.

* * *

I did actually enjoy Seamus's company, and I found I could relax a lot more around him than anyone else. He was really funny, too, which made lessons a lot less painful. I was careful to keep close to Harry, but luckily there were no unfortunate incidents that required me to speak to him. Occasionally I spoke to Ron and Hermione, who both begged me to join them again, but I brushed their pleas aside.

As the week went on, the fear of my vision of Remus faded. Maybe he was right, maybe it was just my psychic self telling me his inner nature. In all fairness, I did try to talk to Severus about his potion, but I found I couldn't get the words out. To question his abilities seemed to be going too far considering I might be wrong. I didn't want to upset anyone.

That weekend, Seamus asked me to come with him to Hogsmeade with him. I was pretty certain that in the Harry Potter books, that meant he was asking me out on a date. However in real life, I wasn't so sure. I wandered down one of the corridors to head outside. I wanted to catch the last of the sunny weather before October. However, Hermione and Ron suddenly jumped out of a classroom and dragged me in before I could stop them. I was about to ask what was wrong when I caught sight of Harry sitting sullenly on one of the desks.

I rolled my eyes and was about to leave when Hermione burst out, 'Oh please don't!'

Anyone else, I would have left. With a sigh, I turned back to her.

'What's up?' I asked carefully.

'We – _all_ of us – would like you to stick with us,' Hermione said, rushing on when she saw I was about to protest. 'You can still hang out with Seamus, but I don't feel comfortable without you. For your sake as well as Harry's.'

'I –'

'We think Malfoy's been checking up on you,' Hermione continued quickly. 'He's been asking around about where you've come from, and of course, no one has a clue so –'

'You could be in big trouble if Voldermort finds out you're someone special,' Ron said, looking rather pale. 'I mean, after what happened to Cho –'

He stopped quickly and glanced at Harry, who flinched for just a second before regaining his composure.

Hermione took my hands. 'Voldermort does terrible things to people Harry cares about,' she said, a pleading look in her eyes. 'He'll do worse things to people who are destined to help Harry defeat him.'

I let out a long sigh. 'Alright, fine,' I groaned. 'I'll stick with you guys. I suppose that means I can't go to Hogsmeade today then?'

'Hogsmeade?' Harry demanded, finally speaking up. 'Why are you going to Hogsmeade?'

'Seamus asked me,' I said, turning to Hermione. 'Does that mean he's asking me out on a date?'

'Yes,' Hermione said, eyes shining. 'That's so sweet!'

'But you can't go,' Ron said in alarm. 'I mean, you can date him and everything, but don't leave Hogwarts.'

I glanced at Harry, who was staring straight ahead at nothing, then made a face. I certainly didn't need permission from _him_ to date Seamus. It didn't seem like he was going to stop me, as he didn't argue with Ron, and I felt relieved that it would be one less thing to fight about.

Unfortunately, my deal meant one more thing to fight about with Seamus, and it was a tough job telling him the bad news. Luckily, I had a compensation for him.

'But we could go for a walk around the lake,' I suggested at his disappointed look. I took his hand, and I hate to admit it but I acted a little shyer than what I actually felt. But Seamus blushed and we wandered around together like a proper couple.

'So I've talked a lot about me this past week, but I don't know anything about you,' Seamus said, glancing at me meaningfully.

I swallowed hard, fixing my eyes on a point across the lake and thought swiftly. If I made something up on the spot, I could easily slip up with details later, but I couldn't exactly tell him the truth either. While I was wrestling over my decision, Seamus sighed.

'I had a feeling that would be your answer. It has something to do with why you're hanging out with Harry, doesn't it?'

'Yeah, actually,' I said, relief washing through me. 'I'm sorry, if this is going to be too hard for you –'

'It's a little unfair, I'll agree,' Seamus grinned, squeezing my hand. 'But I'd feel a bit jibbed if I had to give you up.'

He was so sweet. Nothing like my ex-boyfriend.

Seamus suddenly brightened. 'Well, I don't see that very often.'

'What?' I asked in surprise.

'Your smile. It's nice, you're going to have to use it more.'

'Oh, I don't know about that,' I said, feeling my face fall again. 'I think life's going to be pretty tough for a while.'

'Well if there's anything I can do to help…' Seamus suggested, and I couldn't help smiling again.

We wandered down to a weeping willow beside the lake and sat in the dappling sunlight, staring out across the water. It was really beautiful out here, I only wished the reception had been nicer. Unfortunately, amongst all the peace and quiet, I had another vision. I guessed it served me right for feeling too content with the day. I could see dirt and blood, and hear screams and growling.

When I returned to the present day, Seamus thankfully hadn't noticed anything. I shuddered as the vision faded, wondering what to do. I was almost certain it had been another vision of Remus as a werewolf, but I didn't know anything else. When had it happened? Who was involved? I at least had until the full moon to find out, which gave me until the end of the week. First, at least, I should tell someone.

* * *

Hermione was horrified when she heard what I had to say. I knew she'd be concerned, but it went way beyond that.

'Oh my god, do you realise what this means? Ron, Harry, do you realise what this means?'

'We can't be sure of anything yet,' Harry said, shooting a venomous glare at me before continuing. 'Rather than rush off making accusations, why don't we go back down to the place Emma had the vision and see if she can get something a little more solid than dirt, blood, screams and growling?'

I made a face at him behind his back, despite the fact that his idea was exactly what I'd been planning to do.

'This year's certainly been eventful,' Ron said rather cheerfully as we walked back down to the lake together. 'Not even a fortnight and we get a dementor attack _and_ a werewolf attack.'

'Yeah, well, I'm sure the finale is going to be the heart-stopper,' Harry muttered under his breath.

Ron fell into an awkward silence, and even though in most cases I would have sided with Harry, I disliked him enough to feel sorry for Ron.

We reached the lake and I wandered about for a bit while Hermione made herself comfortable under the tree Seamus and I had been sitting by less than half an hour earlier. After a little while, Ron joined Hermione on the ground, and all three watched me as I tried to get another vision. Unfortunately, I was revealing my carefully hidden ignorance with every minute that ticked by.

'Why don't you touch Harry?' Hermione suggested after while.

'_What?_' Harry and I shouted at the same time.

Hermione rolled her eyes. 'Like in the Divination class. You took hold of Harry's hand and had that vision of the dementors that was trying to come out all week.'

'Oh,' I said, feeling a little silly. 'Yeah, ok.'

I held out my hands and realised I was going to look like an idiot if Harry didn't take them, but after a moment's pause he obliged. I jumped immediately as another shock shot through me.

'What's wrong?' Ron and Hermione asked simultaneously.

'Nothing,' I said breathlessly, trying to ignore the invisible sparks zapping around my hands. 'Just that weird magic feeling again.'

'Funny you don't get that with anyone else,' Hermione mused, and I thought of Seamus. That _was_ kind of strange…

I closed my eyes, trying to concentrate, but nothing coherent came through to me. I got a lot of flashes of darkness similar to the first vision I'd had in this spot, but nothing helpful. After a while, Harry let go of my hands.

'If you haven't had a vision by now, you won't be getting one,' he said shortly, heading back up to the castle. 'We've wasted enough time down here.'

I desperately resisted the urge to stick out my tongue after him as Ron got to his feet. Hermione started to as well, and I held out my hand to help her. The moment her skin touched mine, the vision I had been waiting for reared its ugly and horrifying head.

I screamed and screamed as the image ran as clear as day through my mind, and redness stained the back of my eyelids as I finally snapped out of it. I found myself on the grass, covered in sweat and my whole body shaking fearfully. I was half aware of voices around me, but I couldn't see anything past my blurry tears, and instead turned over and threw up on the ground.

'I've got her, I've got her,' I heard Hermione's voice say in an unnatural screech, and delicate hands held my hair back out of my face. She helped me to my feet and supported me as I stumbled down to the lake to wash myself off. 'Are you alright?'

I shook my head, not daring to look at her. The image ran through my mind again and I shuddered. No one should have to see something like that, but apparently my visions didn't care about sensitivity.

'Don't ask me,' I croaked after washing my mouth with the water.

'Are you kidding me?' Hermione cried. 'How can I not ask you what you saw after what just happened?'

'It's horrible,' I said, barely choking back more tears. 'All you need to know is that Remus will definitely be turning into a werewolf, and you have to make sure you're nowhere near here when it happens.'

'We have until Friday until the full moon,' Hermione said soothingly, stroking my hair. 'I'm sure we'll figure out how to fix this before then.'

'You had a vision about her? I thought you were only supposed to be saving _me_,' another voice demanded from behind us. Damn, I thought he had gone by now. That meant he saw me throw up, which was the very last thing I wanted.

'Your concern for your friends delights me,' I growled under my breath.

'I think he just means that it's strange I'm involved in the prophetic terms of things,' Hermione said.

I glanced up at her and felt my throat close up. She was going to be ripped to pieces if we didn't find out why Remus changed.

'How bad is it?' Ron asked in a strange voice. 'What happens to Hermione?'

'She doesn't live through it,' I choked, refusing to share any detail. I looked up at her and felt resolve wash through me. 'But I'm not going to let it happen. I promise.'

Hermione gave me a smile, but I saw a glimmer of fear in her expression. 'Come on,' she said bravely, helping me to my feet. 'Let's go talk to Remus.'

We walked back up towards the castle and I shot a look at Harry. 'I thought you were long gone.'

'Yeah, well, I came back down when I heard screaming. Thought you were murdering Hermione or something,' Harry muttered.

'Harry,' Hermione said, strained.

I didn't say anything, but my blood boiled with fury. How could he still believe I was a spy after what just happened?

We wandered through the corridors of the university, searching for a Professor who could help us. The first useful person we came across was Severus. As soon as I saw him, my stomach dropped and I started to feel sick again. How was I supposed to explain this? Hermione nudged me, and I stepped forward, clearing my through nervously.

'Er… I uh…'

'What's the matter?' Severus asked coolly.

I cringed, wondering if whatever I was about to say was going to come out like an accusation. I had to be careful how I worded it.

Unfortunately, before I could think of the right thing to say, Harry said it for me.

'Emma saw Remus turning into a werewolf.'

I wished I was close enough to him to stamp on his foot, but I had to make do with grinding my teeth instead. I glanced up at Severus, and he raised his eyebrows.

'Really.' It was a statement, not a question.

'I… I…' I stuttered, scrambling to come up with something worthwhile saying.

'So what am I to presume from this?' Severus inquired carefully. 'Either that I am to blame for not administering the potion correctly, or that Remus is to blame for not taking the potion?'

'No, no, it could be anything else –' I choked.

'The potion has worked for the past few years, so what you are telling us is that someone is sabotaging it.'

'Well… yeah,' I said weakly.

'I see. And how exactly is someone sabotaging it? I mix the potions in my lab – I trust you are aware that I do not make mistakes – and I personally take it to Remus's office, where he drinks it immediately. I give it to him five days before the full moon, and three days after it every month. When exactly would someone have the chance to sabotage it?'

I glanced back at Ron and Hermione, who looked perplexed, and Harry, who was smirking victoriously. It was his triumph that sparked the anger in me. It certainly wasn't _my _fault that I had the visions. I only said what I saw, and people had to act accordingly. It was too bad if someone was stuffing up – purposefully or accidentally – along the way; it certainly wasn't my fault. And here was Harry, trying to bring me down even though the only thing I'd been doing for almost a month was try to help him.

Well I had had enough. They could all live without me for all I cared.

'Fine,' I said sharply, stepping back from the group. 'Fine, Harry, you win. I'm leaving. I don't want to put up with this anymore. Hermione, swear to me that you won't go down to the lake during the full moon.'

'Emma,' Hermione pleaded, moving towards me, 'no one blames you, we just need to know how it could happen –'

'That's not up to me, is it?' I yelled, attracting attention from a few students walking past.

I spun on my heel and stormed towards the only place I had left to go. Thankfully I didn't get lost (in my angry mood it was very possible), and I said the password rather furiously before dashing up the stairs to Dumbledore's office.

It was lucky he was there on a Saturday, and he seemed quite pleased to see me, but I wasn't in the mood for pleasantries.

'I'd like to go home,' I stated firmly, much to his surprise. He sat back in his chair, surveying me over his glasses. I didn't take a seat, feeling my position would be taken more seriously if I stood. When he remained silent, I continued. 'What's the point of having a psychic if people are questioning my visions left and right, and then assuming I'm accusing people when I tell them what I see?'

After a moment's pause, Dumbledore replied. 'And what is it exactly that you saw?'

Damn, I definitely didn't want to go into that now. I just wanted to go home.

'Severus and the others know about it, they can deal with it.'

'Emma,' Dumbledore said patiently. 'I'd like you to tell me what you saw.'

I pursed my lips to calm my temper before describing to him what had happened that afternoon. When I finished, he closed his eyes as though in pain.

'Did you see the moon?' he asked finally.

'What?' Of all the questions I was expecting him to say, that was certainly not it.

'In your vision, did you see the moon?' Dumbledore repeated.

'I… no,' I replied, puzzled. 'Surely it would be a full moon, though?'

'In the particulars of suppressant potions, once a proper dosage has been missed, the condition which is being suppressed can manifest at any given time.'

I swallowed hard. 'Are you saying Remus could become a werewolf right now?'

'That's precisely what I am saying.'

My heart hammered painfully in my chest and my hands felt clammy from terror. 'We… we have to get Hermione out of here!'

'Hermione is not the only one in danger.' Dumbledore stood quickly, seemingly much too quickly for someone as old as he. 'We must find Professor Lupin immediately.'

'But…'

'Come, Emma, we haven't a moment to lose.'

He swept out of his office and down the steps, and I struggled to keep up. We split up once we reached the corridor, and I sprinted down to Remus's office while Dumbledore headed to the staff room. The problem was that it was a Saturday, and Remus could be anywhere.

My mind whirred as I tried to figure out how the suppressant potion could have possibly gone wrong. I was sure Severus wouldn't sabotage it, and I was completely positive that Remus was innocent. But what did that leave? What was left? I felt like the answer was right in front of me, and I just couldn't grasp it. I wished hard that I could have a vision that would just tell me the answer –

And then it hit me. Of course. I'd already had a vision that told me the answer.

Once I'd determined Remus wasn't in his office, I dashed back to where I'd had the argument with Severus. The sun was setting fast, and shadows were flickering in the torchlight. Of course, the others were long gone from the place where we'd met Severus, but I veered around and headed towards the dungeons, hoping his office was close. I ran my hands along the walls, silently begging them to show me something useful. I turned a corner and had a flash of the wooden door to my left opening. Within moments I was hammering on the door, desperately trying to get my breath back.

Severus opened it, his eyes wide.

'My… first vision,' I panted, my lungs tearing with every gasp. 'Of you –'

'The imitation goat gallstone, yes,' Severus said swiftly, his eyes sparking as it hit him too. 'Who's to say that one of my other ingredients wasn't replaced as well?'

'Go… check,' I wheezed. 'I have… to find… Remus.'

'I'm going to have to inquire into this,' Severus muttered, rushing past my towards his storage room.

I didn't have time to wait for him, so I sprinted back out of the dungeons and searched within the school for the Professor. It was well past twilight when I finally ran into Harry, who was coming down the corridor from the opposite end.

'I've been looking for you,' he said. 'I ran into Dumbledore, we've been searching for Remus for ages.'

'Where's Hermione?' I asked, fear gripping me.

'One of the students said they saw Remus out in the Herbology centre, so she and Ron went to check.'

I felt despair tear at me. 'Why didn't you go with her?'

'Ron's with her,' Harry said, rather affronted. 'And I was looking for _you_.'

'We have to go,' I said in a panic. 'Now.'

'Where are you going?' Harry demanded, rushing after me as I pelted outside. 'The Herbology centre is in the other direction!'

'They won't be there by now,' I called over my shoulder.

Harry finally realised what I was saying, and he sped up, almost passing me as we careened down towards the lake. I was running so fast that I couldn't breathe, and I was pretty certain that I was about to pass out. We skidded to a stop by the weeping willow when we saw the bulking shape of what used to be Remus advancing on Hermione.

'Hey!' Harry called, trying to get the werewolf's attention, but it ignored him and leapt at Hermione.

The image of what it was about to do ran through my head and I screamed so loud it felt like my throat bled. The werewolf halted, its huge claws ripping up dirt as it stopped, and it spun towards Harry and I. Relief dared to wash through me as Hermione slightly stumbled away towards the far side of the weeping willow and up the bank.

Unfortunately now the werewolf was advancing on me, but before I could feel proper fear, Harry shoved me aside and pulled out his wand.

'Go! Take Hermione and get out of here.'

I jumped in shock as Hermione clutched at my jacket, pulling me away.

'Wait –' I said weakly, glancing back at Harry, though I wanted nothing more than to run away.

'He'll be fine, come on, let's get out of here,' Hermione said, dashing up the bank, my jacket still bunched in her hands.

I had no choice but to follow her, not daring to look back as sparks from spells lit up the darkness. We met Severus on our way up, who was clutching a grail of liquid.

'I've got a new batch of the potion,' he said, out of breath as he headed towards the fight.

'Be careful,' Hermione pleaded, not stopping as we reached the top of the hill.

We ran into Ron at the top, and my legs suddenly couldn't take another step, giving way beneath me. Hermione fell to the ground too, but mostly out of shock than exhaustion.

'Are you guys ok?' Ron asked fearfully, checking Hermione for wounds.

'Yeah,' Hermione puffed, her gaze travelling down to the river.

We couldn't see anything except for the occasional glimmer of a spell, and the sound of growling rumbled through the air like a persistent thunder. After several minutes there was a long, low howl that gripped at my heart more than any fear I felt.

And, just to make matters worse, that's when the Danger latched itself onto me again. My arms flailed about in the dark vision as panic tore at my insides, but it passed quickly and I brushed off Ron and Hermione's questions with lies. I didn't want to think about the Danger just now, there were too many other things to worry about. It stayed close to my heart while we waited, but relief overtook it when we saw Harry and Severus half-carrying a tattered Remus up the hill.

Ron and Hermione got to their feet, checking Harry for wounds before taking Remus off his hands and helping Severus get him into the castle. Harry slowed as he reached me and we watched the four disappear inside. I was too tired and shocked to move, but he stayed with me silently until I was able to get up. Dumbledore was waiting for us in the entrance, and Harry turned to me before the old wizard was in earshot.

'Thank you,' he said under his breath, 'for saving Hermione.'

I didn't reply. Turned out the only way to get his trust was to save the life of someone he believed worth it.

* * *

Severus told us later that evening as we squashed around Dumbledore's office that his store of fluxweed had been tampered with. While the information brought about a huge relief that none of our most trusted group had been the saboteur, it started to raise many questions about who had been replacing his stores with imitations.

'What's worse, is that it had to be someone before the main body of students got here,' Ron pointed out as he chewed on a liquorice wand. 'Before any of us got here.'

'Tha's impossible,' Hagrid insisted. 'The only people tha were 'ere were the Order.'

'And Emma, of course,' Harry added. I glowered at him, but to my utter disbelief, he gave me a quick grin. 'Although I've given up blaming her.'

'It's about time,' I heard Ron mutter to Hermione.

It was most unfortunate that at that moment the Danger reappeared, and I clutched at my head in panic as darkness washed over my vision.

'Emma!' Hermione gasped, gripping my arm and drawing me back to my surroundings.

I snapped back to reality, feeling myself grow warm as everyone stared at me. I didn't know what to say, and I was hoping the conversation would continue, but there was no such luck.

'Emma, you have to tell us what's going on!' Hermione cried. 'I've seen that expression on your face enough times to know it's _not_ nothing!'

I covered my face with my hand and groaned. 'I don't want to bother scaring you for no reason.'

'If you hadn't bothered 'scaring' us before, Hermione would be dead and Remus would be running around as a werewolf,' Minerva said sharply.

I let out a long sigh, feeling uncomfortably aware that Harry was watching me closely.

'It… it's just a feeling mostly,' I finally admitted. 'I've had it for a while now, and it comes during times that have no connection.'

'What's the feeling?' Ron asked, leaning forward curiously.

I hesitated before telling them. 'That a terrible Danger is coming.'

'Phew,' drawled Harry, 'I thought it was actually going to be something bad.'

'It's not just a vision about Voldermort, is it?' Hermione inquired hopefully.

'Nope,' I said glumly. 'It's much more scary than that.'

'More scary than Voldermort?' Ron exclaimed. 'Blimey Harry, you just don't get a break, do you?'

Harry looked grim, but didn't reply.

'Perhaps, for now, we should release the fear of this impending Danger until we get further information,' Dumbledore suggested. 'It would be nice if the group of us were to get a decent night's sleep for once.'

I nodded in agreement, and it was reluctantly decided by everyone that the impending Danger could wait a little while. The group slowly dispersed, heading off to bed after the hard night, but I stayed behind for a little while.

'Do you think it's alright if I go see Remus?' I asked rather timidly.

Dumbledore nodded, his blue gaze fixed on me rather firmly. 'I am not the one to decide, as that's up to Madam Pomfrey, but you may ask her.'

I thanked him and walked over to the hospital wing as fast as my tired body allowed me to go. It took a little persuading, but Madam Pomfrey finally let me in to see the Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher. I wandered into the large room, my eyes adjusting to the moonlight filtering in through the large windows. Remus was sleeping in the bed at the far end, and I sat beside him without a word. He looked utterly exhausted, and a little worse for wear from the spells used against him, but at least he was alive. I watched him taking in shallow breaths and noticed the black rings under his eyes were more prominent against his pasty skin. Eventually it was too much for me to bear, and I felt I had to leave.

Just as I was getting up, however, Remus inhaled deeply and opened his eyes.

'Emma?'

'Hi,' I whispered, my heart jumping to my throat. 'How are you?'

'I've been better, but I've definitely been worse,' he said, managing a grin.

'I'm so sorry Remus –'

'Sorry?' Remus demanded with as much anger as he could muster. 'I'm the one who should be sorry. Who am I to dismiss the instincts of a psychic? How can I ever make it up to you?'

'Get better,' I said weakly. I thought of something, and sat back down. 'Should I ask Dumbledore to call for Tonks?'

'No,' said Remus, closing his eyes again. 'She's off on a very important mission and Dumbledore warned me I wouldn't be able to contact her for a while.'

I couldn't quite understand why, but somehow I felt very guilty about this.

'By the way,' said Remus, a smile quirking at his mouth, 'I heard you're going out with Seamus.'

I couldn't believe it. How fast did news travel around this place?

'That might be true,' I said carefully.

'He's a nice kid,' Remus murmured without opening his eyes.

I grinned and shook my head in amusement. 'Thanks.'

I stood up again and was just heading out the door when Remus mumbled something else. I didn't catch exactly what he said, but it sounded suspiciously like, 'He's not really your type, though.'


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter Five – The Danger**

Dumbledore caught out Mungdungus Fletcher less than a week after the incident and discovered that the thief was selling Severus's real ingredients in the black market for three times their original price. While this meant he wasn't purposefully trying to sabotage the group, he still caused enough damage for Dumbledore to take action. Fletcher was quickly relocated to a different job in the Order, and I heard it was something rather unsavoury that no one else was willing to do.

It took Remus a little longer to get better, and Sirius took over Defence Against the Dark Arts classes during his recovery. The weather got very cold as the days passed, and I grew concerned. I didn't mind the cold too much, but it was already freezing and it was only October. I wasn't used to such icy temperatures. Minerva came back from Hogsmeade one weekend with a pile of warm clothes for me, which I snapped up eagerly, seeing my original batch of outfits had been worn to death.

Unfortunately, as time passed, it got harder for me to hide the fact that I couldn't do a scrap of magic. All teachers were under strict instructions not to ask me to perform magic in front of the class even though most didn't know who I really was, but there was only so much Hermione could cover for me during lessons. Malfoy was starting to mention my lack of abilities loudly in hallways and during meals, but thankfully had not yet challenged me outright.

One evening while we were in the library doing homework, Seamus turned to me and said very lowly, 'I think I know your secret.'

I paused, my quill dripping blotches of ink on my parchment. My heart was frozen mid-beat in my chest, and I was struggling to take in a breath. This was dreadful; if Seamus really knew that I was a psychic, it could all be over. No wonder Harry had told me to stick with them…

'You're a squib, aren't you?'

I exhaled heavily, the feeling coming back into my body. I almost cried in relief. Of course, what a perfect excuse! Seamus seemed very embarrassed.

'I wanted to make absolutely sure I was right before I said anything,' he whispered. 'I didn't want to bring it up with you, but I really need you to know that I'm totally fine with it. I'll help you with magic in class – I know Hermione's been doing most of it for you.'

'You really do watch me closely, don't you?' I laughed.

Seamus blushed. 'I'm glad it's out in the open. I've been feeling so miserable not being able to ask you about it. I had to be careful though; most squibs lose their minds when someone else finds out about them.'

I didn't care one jot about the fact that I couldn't do magic, but if I was going to pose as a normal squib, I supposed I'd better act like one.

'Please don't tell anyone,' I muttered, glancing around to make sure no one was listening.

'Of course I won't,' Seamus assured me, touching my hand. He hesitated before continuing. 'It's a bit strange… a squib attending university. I figure all the Professors know about it? They don't seem to ask you to do anything in class.'

I pursed my lips, unable to give him a proper answer. Seamus let out a sigh.

'Is this one of those things you're not allowed to tell me? I suppose it has something to do with why you have to hang out with Harry, too?'

'Please keep this to yourself!' I whispered in a strained voice.

Seamus surprised me by looking very upset. 'Of course I will,' he said, hurt. 'I told you that you could trust me.'

'Sorry,' I said with a guilty smile. 'You're right.' I yawned and stretched. 'I think I might skip dinner tonight. I had a huge lunch.'

'I'll walk you back to the commonroom,' Seamus offered, standing, but I shook my head.

'I'll be fine. I'll see you later.'

Seamus looked rather dejected as he sat down again, and I couldn't help feeling guilty as I dashed back to the Fourth Year commonroom and found Harry, Ron and Hermione sitting in comfy armchairs around the fireplace.

'Uh oh, I know that look,' Ron said with a certain amount of dread as I joined them. 'What's wrong?'

I waited until the room had emptied as the students milled for dinner before telling them. 'Seamus thinks I'm a squib.'

'Ouch,' Harry said with a hint of a smirk.

'Doesn't bother me,' I shrugged, suddenly irked for no apparent reason.

'Well, it's a good alibi,' Hermione pondered. 'Not entirely desirable, but we haven't got the luxury of being choosy.'

'Do you think he'll tell anyone?' Ron inquired.

I shook my head vigorously. 'No way. I can trust him. He already knows there's something about me, and he hasn't said a word to anyone.'

'That you know of,' Harry reminded me.

'Don't be ridiculous,' I snapped. 'I trust him with my life.'

'You'd better, because basically you are,' Harry snapped back. 'If he's smart enough to put two and two together –'

'I've had it with you insulting my boyfriend!' I yelled, standing sharply. 'Every two seconds you say something nasty about him.'

'That's because in between the seconds, all you ever do is talk about him!' Harry shouted, standing as well.

'Now come on, that's enough, the both of you,' Hermione said, jumping between us. 'Harry, Emma, sit down.'

'He –' I tried, but Hermione silenced me with a glare.

Begrudgingly, I slumped back in my seat and crossed my arms. Harry was in the same mood, sulkily glaring at the fire crackling with cheerful ignorance before us. No one said anything for a long while, and finally I couldn't take it anymore. For some reason, it really got under my skin that Harry didn't like Seamus. Harry and I got on slightly better these days, but whenever the topic of my boyfriend came up, without fail we'd have a fight.

Without another word, I got up and stalked out of the commonroom. It was cold in the passageway, and I automatically wished I'd stayed by the fire, but the thought of going back was too unpleasant to toy with. I wandered around for a while before deciding to visit Remus. He had recently come out of hospital and would be still tidying up his office after Sirius had occupied it. I suppressed a grin at that thought and started for the staircase. Before I could reach it, however, a figure stepped out from behind a statue and stopped me.

'You have no idea how long I've been waiting to catch you alone.'

My heart jumped to my throat when I realised it was Malfoy. I stepped back, wondering if it was worth trying to run.

'Oh no you don't,' Malfoy said, flourishing his wand when he saw my foot inch backwards. '_Impedimenta!_'

My whole body flew into the air like I was on some sort of spring, and I skidding across the ground. Before I could move, Malfoy stalked up to me and grabbed my collar, hauling me to my feet.

'Now,' he said, a malicious grin crossing his face as he pressed the wand against my cheek, 'you're going to tell me who you are, and what you have to do with Harry. Clear?'

'I… I… I'm nobody,' I choked out, my mind whizzing with possible lies I could come up with that he might believe.

'Wrong answer,' Malfoy laughed. 'You can't do magic. There's no way you could possibly be accepted into university if you were a squib. Now tell me who you are, or I'll find more unpleasant ways to make you talk.'

I begged my brain to come up with something, anything that could help me, but my mind and voice had both abandoned me. Malfoy rolled his eyes.

'Fine, if that's the way you want it. _Cru_ –'

'_Accio! Stupefy!_'

I was violently pulled out of Malfoy's grip as though someone with the strength of a thousand men was dragging me, and I crashed into Harry as Malfoy flew down the passageway.

'Are you alright?' Harry asked, stabilising me without losing his balance.

'Yeah,' I said breathlessly, feeling slightly dizzy. 'Did you just use the _Summoning_ spell on me?'

'Don't sound so offended,' Harry grinned before turning his attention to Malfoy. He kept his wand trained vigilantly on the blond, waiting for him to get up. 'What's up, Malfoy?' he demanded, moving forward. 'You can't go one semester without putting your dirty hands all over my servants?'

'Your servants?' Malfoy coughed, managing to sneer as he got to his feet.

'Haven't you figured it out by now?' Harry asked coldly. 'She can't do magic, she hangs around me all the time, she doesn't know the answers to any of the questions in class.'

Malfoy straightened, brushing himself off and looking genuinely puzzled. 'What are you talking about, Potter?'

'Might as well tell you now, so you don't go ruining the merchandise,' Harry snapped. 'She's a squib slave. Dumbledore hired her for me this year to ease any tension I might have.'

As he spoke, a leer began forming on Malfoy's face. 'Why the big secret then?'

'Why do you think?' Harry returned shortly. 'If everyone knew Dumbledore was treating me to a squib slave…'

'They'd all be resentful and claim favouritism,' Malfoy snorted. 'Well don't think I won't be telling absolutely everyone Potter. This is just too good.' He looked me up and down in a way that made me shudder. 'Didn't think the old nutter would advocate for this kind of trade. Suppose he'd do anything for his dear Prophecy Boy though.'

He stepped back tentatively, and when Harry didn't move, he turned and ran for it down the passageway.

I felt relief wash through me, but it quickly disappeared when Harry turned to me with a very guilty expression on his face. 'I'm so sorry, I had no choice. It was the best thing I could come up with spur of the moment.'

'What exactly is a squib slave?' I asked with a grimace.

'You don't want to know,' Harry muttered, making his way back to the commonroom. 'Just be glad I got you out of that mess.'

'How did you find me, anyway?' I asked, walking in step beside him.

He glanced down at me and shrugged. 'You always go to Remus when we have a fight.'

The feeling of Danger suddenly increased with a vengeance, but it had been with me for so long now, I was starting to ignore it.

* * *

There was a meeting for the Order of the Phoenix that night. We were only told about two hours prior, as was apparently protocol, to maintain secrecy. We met at midnight in a luxurious boardroom that Hermione whispered to me was actually the Room of Requirement. To be honest, I had no recollection from the books what that particular room was, but I was determined to keep quiet and retain my 'mysterious aura of knowledge'.

The people I had not seen in a while – mainly the Weasley's and Moody – all shook my hand and asked about my progress, but Dumbledore assured them they'd get a proper update during the meeting. The people who were missing from the first meeting were once again absent this time. I glanced at the tired-looking Remus and wondered where exactly this top-secret mission was being held. I also mused on the whereabouts of Mungdungus Fletcher while people around me chattered, but this was with some amusement.

'I wonder if Fletcher is stuck gathering information from a bunch of bathrooms,' Harry muttered in my ear, as though reading my mind.

'I was thinking sewer cleaning,' I replied, sniggering. I shut up the moment I saw Dumbledore watching us with a sharp gaze. Something about his expression concerned me.

'Very well, shall we begin?' he said, addressing the group as though nothing had happened. Everyone fell silent, giving him their full attention. Briefly but adequately, Dumbledore went over the events of the semester that involved myself and the Order. Those that had not been there during the dementor attack and Remus's mishap were absolutely horrified.

Fred and George lost it completely when they heard that Mungdungus Fletcher was responsible.

'Boys!' Molly Weasley said sharply, looking extremely embarrassed. 'This is not a joke! People were nearly mauled to death by his complete disregard for important property!'

'But they weren't, mum!' Fred snorted. 'And what an ass that man is! I was wondering why he suddenly disappeared off the face of the earth!'

'I hate to interrupt this debate,' Dumbledore said quietly, 'but I'm afraid I have some bad news that must be shared.'

I had an awful feeling this was going to be about me.

'What's up?' Charlie said in alarm.

'I am afraid Emma has experienced remnants of a most dreadful vision,' Dumbledore explained. Yep, it was about me. I sunk slightly in my chair. 'She tells us there is a Danger approaching, something that is not Voldermort.'

I wished desperately that he hadn't brought it up. There was no point alarming all these people over a 'feeling'.

'Do you have any kind of clue as to what it's about?' Bill inquired, staring at me quite fixedly.

'No,' I muttered under my breath, feeling my face heat up.

'You shouldn't take it lightly because she doesn't know what it is,' Hermione told the group. 'She says it's getting closer, and she feels it all the time now.'

'Most of the time,' I corrected her. 'Some moments are stronger than others.'

'Oh dear,' Molly said, looking pale. I knew exactly what was bothering her, as Arthur didn't seem to be coming back from his top-secret mission anytime soon.

'We shouldn't worry about these things just yet,' Moody growled. 'If we're constantly on alert, nothing should take us by surprise.'

'Correct,' Dumbledore mumbled, his gaze sweeping to me before surveying the group. 'So for now, all I ask is that everyone be aware.'

The other members that weren't part of the university gave reports after that, providing valuable information on Voldermort's whereabouts and activities. Bill was the one to break the grave news that Voldermort was rumoured to be sending scouts out to the ancient tombs of Egypt, the sacred mountains of China and the crumbling ruins of Greece and Rome.

'He's searching for something, I know it,' said the long-haired Weasley.

'There's bad news on my end, too,' Ginny added, who did work experience in the Ministry of Magic and acted as a spy at the same time. 'The Aurors have captured several dementors and have locked them in Azkaban. The Minister still thinks they'll have the same effect on the prisoners as before.'

Dumbledore closed his eyes and exhaled slowly. 'I had heard rumours,' he murmured, 'but I had hoped the Minister was using his brains during this delicate time.'

There was an awkward silence.

'I'm glad to see Harry and Emma are getting along,' George said abruptly, startling me as everyone's attention turned to us. 'They're even sitting next to each other, and there's not a scrap of potato anywhere on Harry's face!'

The younger members of the group all laughed, but Harry and I didn't find it funny at all. In fact, for some reason, I felt extremely uncomfortable.

'Aw, come on, when you force two people together for that amount of time, they're bound to get along eventually,' Sirius winked.

'Ah, that reminds me, Harry, you had something you wanted to share with us?' Dumbledore asked.

'Yes,' Harry said, looking tense. He kept glancing over at me as though wishing me to save him. Yeah right, he was the one who got me into this mess in the first place. 'Well, um… ahem… circumstances have now changed. Due to an unforseen crisis… er… Emma is now posing as… as my squib slave.'

Shocked silence only lasted several seconds before one of the twins wolf-whistled. Molly was too stunned to even scold her son. Everyone was staring at me, and I wished more than ever to crawl into a very deep hole. I was even envying Mungdungus at the moment.

'How did this happen?'

Hermione had finally found her voice.

'Harry saved me,' I said before Harry could reply. I drew in a deep breath and explained what happened. 'It was really the only thing he could have done,' I said once I'd finished.

'Do you realise this means everyone now thinks you're a desperate, magicless prostitute?' Ron demanded.

'Better than the truth,' Harry shot back.

'I'd hate to say it, but I agree,' Sirius said, looking mighty uncomfortable.

I noticed no one was meeting my eye.

'I think we're all missing a very vital point here,' Remus mentioned. 'It sounded like Malfoy was about to use the Cruciatus Curse on her.'

'We can't prove it,' Severus said with a sigh. 'Besides, perhaps it's for the best if we don't pursue that particular fact. I'd like to keep that boy under my watch for as long as possible.'

'That's very true,' Minerva agreed.

'So everyone keep a close eye on Emma from now on,' Remus ordered, his grey eyes falling upon me. 'She's going to be the target for many nasty attacks from now on, and I shudder to think what Malfoy would do if he got his hands on her now.'

I swallowed back bile that had suddenly risen to my throat, and I felt Harry tense beside me. Ron and Hermione both looked dreadfully pale.

'On the bright side,' Harry said slowly, drawing everyone's attention to him. 'Maybe… maybe I could actually have a date to this year's Halloween ball. I mean,' he added quickly at everyone's expression, 'I never get to take anyone in case Voldermort attacks them, but now people think she's my squib slave –'

'Absolutely not,' Dumbledore said firmly, interrupting him.

'Why not?' Harry asked in surprise. 'I know it's just Emma, but it's better than no one.'

This might have offended me if I wasn't already reeling by all the information that had been flooded into my brain that evening.

'Emma, I assume, will be going with Seamus,' Dumbledore said, lifting his eyebrows to look at me.

Oh god, I had completely forgotten about Seamus. Of course I would be going with Seamus. That is, of course, if he didn't dump me after finding out I was 'Harry's hooker'.

'Speaking of the ball,' Dumbledore said, changing the subject abruptly, 'Fred and George, I'd like you to attend if it doesn't clash with your plans. I need extra Order members there in case an incident occurs. I have a few bartender positions that need to be filled.'

'Sounds good,' Fred and George said together.

'Excellent,' Dumbledore said. 'Now, I believe it's time to go to bed. Some members have class in the morning.'

I realised with a jolt that it was past one in the morning, and I was exhausted. The meeting broke up and we slowly made our way back to bed. Harry said a very abrupt goodnight to everyone, which I thought was rather rude.

'Don't mind him,' Hermione said as we climbed up to our dormitory. 'He had a very brief moment of feeling like a normal person when he thought he'd actually have a date to the ball.'

'I suppose I might be able to go with him,' I said hesitantly, wondering what I could say to Seamus.

'Better not,' Hermione warned. 'Dumbledore seemed pretty certain you guys shouldn't go together.'

* * *

I couldn't believe the change in attitude towards me the next day. Even in our dormitory, which we shared with two other girls, I got strange looks and endured shielded whispering. The commonroom was also bad, but the Great Hall was the absolute worst. Most people just gave me sneers or frowns, but some girls actually had venomous looks on their faces, like I was committing the vilest of crimes.

'I don't believe this,' I muttered to Hermione as we walked over towards the boys for breakfast. 'Is being a squib slave really that bad?'

'It's probably the worst occupation in the Wizarding World,' Hermione said uncomfortably. 'Oh, I hope they won't be awful about it.'

'Emma!' Seamus called, waving to me from his seat.

I said goodbye to Hermione and joined my boyfriend, feeling utterly relieved that he was still speaking to me.

'Hi,' I said awkwardly.

'Hey,' he said, moving over so I could sit beside him.

'Er, before I take a seat, you do know what's been said about me, don't you?' I asked carefully.

'Of course I do,' Seamus replied. 'I'd be pretty blind and deaf not to. Will you please sit down, you look a bit ridiculous standing there.'

I sat down gratefully and smiled at him.

'Oi Seamus, go take a shower!' one of the boys across from us exclaimed. 'Who knows how dirty the whore is!'

'You shut your mouth Thomas!' Seamus snapped furiously.

I didn't know how I was going to live under such unbearable scrutiny. 'Maybe I should just go,' I muttered.

'No way,' Seamus said, grabbing my jacket. 'You're still my girlfriend, and I want to have breakfast with you.'

I felt slightly sick and certainly didn't feel like eating anything, but I stayed with him. Despite the fact that he was insistent on staying, he gulped down his food pretty fast and we got up to leave well before classes were due to start.

'Ew!' one of the girls said loudly as I got up. 'Make sure you wash that chair before you go!'

I ignored her as best I could and walked as quickly as my shaking legs would take me out of the Great Hall. I tried to remind myself what I was here to do, and how important I was to Harry and the prophecy.

'Can I ask you something?' Seamus said, breaking the silence. 'How… how often do you and Harry… you know?'

'Never,' I answered quickly.

Seamus stopped in his tracks. 'What?' he asked in shock.

I turned to him. 'We've never done anything like that,' I told him. 'I'm not a prostitute or anything.'

Seamus looked utterly perplexed. 'Then why… why…?'

'There are other things Harry requires of me,' I told him. 'Like that time I went out as bait for the dementors. I wasn't hired to sleep with him.'

A flicker of enormous relief passed across Seamus's face. 'You're joking,' he said. 'Why don't you just tell everyone that? They're only being nasty because they think you sleep with him!'

I worded my answer carefully. 'Some of the things I do are top secret,' I told him. 'It's better for everyone if they just think… what they already think.'

'It's not better for _you_,' Seamus pointed out.

'My feelings are nowhere near as important as the big picture,' I shrugged, continuing on my way.

Seamus grabbed my hand and pulled me back, heading towards the arches leading outside.

'What are you doing?' I asked, following him curiously.

Seamus took me out under a tree, sheltered from the threatening clouds. 'I would have been understanding if you were really a… you know… but I'm _really_ glad that you're not,' he grinned, kissing me rather earnestly. We'd had quite a few kisses since we'd started dating, but this one was certainly the most energetic one so far.

We showed up to class a little late, looking more than a little tussled. I slipped into my seat between Harry and Hermione, and heard a girl behind me mutter 'slut'.

'Just ignore her,' Hermione said quietly.

It became harder to ignore people when they wouldn't let up. I was hoping after a few days the harshness would die down, but it simply wouldn't stop. Pretty soon I was beginning to lose sight of the bigger picture. Despite the fact that 'squib slave' meant nothing to me, and that I knew what they were saying wasn't true, I was beginning to strain under the pressure. At first I tried to hide in Remus's office a lot, until students started spreading rumours about what I was doing in there, and I quickly put a stop to my visits to protect him. People were starting to pull mean tricks on me using magic, and I'd had numerous guys ask me how much my services were. I had no idea if they were joking or not, but I told them I was reserved for Harry, to which of course they replied that Seamus must be getting freebies.

While I was feeling very sorry for myself, I felt exceptionally terrible for Seamus. He had put up with a lot of dreadful incidents, all just because I was dating him. I offered him a chance to get out, to break up with me, but he refused. I started to feel incredibly guilty, and an awful notion was creeping into my mind that I did not feel the same way about him that he did about me.

More than once I lost my temper at Harry, even though he was also bearing a fair amount of abuse. It was his fault we were suffering this, but every time I attacked him with it, he would quietly remind me he was trying to protect me.

On the Friday evening before the Halloween ball, I was hit with a knowledge that made me sick to my stomach. I left Seamus and ran straight to Harry, who was studying in the library with Ron and Hermione. I ignored the snarls and jeers that I received as I passed people and threw myself into a chair beside Harry.

'It's going to happen tomorrow,' I panted in panic. 'The Danger, whatever it is, it's going to happen tomorrow.'

'What?' Harry asked in horror as Ron and Hermione exchanged frightened glances.

I pounded at my head in frustration. 'I can't believe I can't get a vision of it. I hate my stupid visions, I hate them!'

'Someone must be planning something to happen during the ball,' Hermione realised. 'Come on, we've got to tell Dumbledore.'

Dumbledore, unfortunately, could not do much without any extra information. 'I will organise a student-body trip down to Hogsmeade in case it happens during the day – most people will come along to that, I'm sure,' he decided rapidly. 'I'll get those from the Order to set up as many anti-jinxes and protection spells as we have around the castle and put everyone on high alert. Harry, you stay here with Emma tomorrow, and remain within the grounds.'

Harry and I nodded obediently. I felt a sickening rush within me, and I knew there was no way I was getting any sleep tonight. It seemed my worst nightmare – whatever it was – was coming for us within the next twenty-four hours.

* * *

I did manage to fall asleep at around five in the morning, but it was a restless sleep with disturbing dreams and jumbled images. I awoke late into the day, my heart pounding. When I reached the commonroom, Harry was waiting for me by the fireplace.

'You look as terrible as I feel,' he said with a forced smile. 'Come on, everyone's already gone to Hogsmeade, we can have a peaceful breakfast for once.'

Unfortunately, I was so tense that I couldn't get a single piece of food in my mouth. It didn't matter anyway, as we were rushed out after about five minutes so that the Order could start anti-jinxing the Hall. It was well past midday when Harry and I ventured outside to experience the surprisingly sunny day. It was still freezing, but at least the rays warmed the atmosphere. We walked in silence for a while, then Harry spoke up.

'I'm not ready to fight him yet.' His voice cracked as he said it.

'Don't worry,' I replied. 'It's not that. Somehow, though, I think it's worse.'

'What could be worse than having to face Voldermort to the death?' Harry demanded.

I shook my head. 'I wish I didn't have to find out.'

We wandered around the lake, trying to think of a conversation topic that would keep our minds busy. My heart was pounding erratically and wouldn't slow down. I was admittedly terrified of the Danger, and I could feel it looming closer with every passing moment.

Harry motioned for me to follow him onto the jetty over the river, and I obliged. The moment I stepped onto the wood, my heart froze for a moment. The Danger was only moments away. I was simply too frightened to peel open my mouth to tell Harry. Perhaps it had something to do with the giant squid in the lake.

'So,' Harry said in a strange voice as we walked along the jetty. My legs had almost turned to jelly by this point. 'So… have you and Seamus… you know…?'

Was he kidding me? Something horrifying was minutes away from happening to us, and he asks me about Seamus?

'No,' I answered in a croak.

'Oh,' Harry answered, staring at the grey planks of wood below him as he stopped walking. 'I suppose it hasn't been that long.'

'Not to mention we have no privacy in dorm rooms,' I managed to point out.

'Right, privacy,' Harry muttered, glancing around. 'Do you love him?'

'What?' This was getting more ridiculous by the moment. It was certainly not the time and place for the question-and-answer segment.

'Do you?'

'Harry, this isn't –'

'Answer me.'

I threw up my hands in exasperation, forgetting for a split second the looming Danger. 'No, I suppose I don't.'

'Good.'

And he pushed me backwards into the water.

My mind was wiped clean from shock as I fell through the air, but I was slammed back to reality as I hit the frozen water. I struggled, momentarily suspended, before kicking up to the surface. Beside me was a whirl of water, as though Harry had just jumped in beside me. This was crazy – this was how I was going to die? Harry, of all people, was going to kill me. Of all the impending Danger I could have guessed, I never saw this one coming.

I burst to the surface, barely getting a moment to gasp for air before I was pulled under the jetty and slammed up against one of the supporting legs. My feet could just reach the sand below. I felt a moment of terror as I looked into Harry's drenched face, and then something happened – the most horrible and incredible thing that I could have experienced all at the same time.

Harry kissed me.

And it wasn't like any other kiss in the world. It was fiery and violent and wild, like the desperate kiss of a man who's going to die. His hands were in my hair and his body kept my back pressed against the wood behind me. The sparks of magic that I normally felt when our skin touched zapped around me in a frenzy, making it impossibly more passionate than it already was. My body burnt, and I couldn't grasp how the water had ever been cold.

However hot my body was though, was nothing in comparison to my mouth, which was on fire against Harry's. His tongue played with mine and I felt a groan flare up from the blaze in my stomach.

I dully realised that it hadn't even occurred to me that I had fallen in love with him these past few months. I had wanted those deep green eyes to see me properly, I had craved for those arms to be around me, for his attention to be directed to me. All this time, all this time I had wanted him, and it had taken a kiss like this for me to realise it.

Harry finally broke away for air, but he didn't go far – his mouth moving back only inches.

'Be mine,' he whispered, his hot breath adding to the fire on my lips. There was a pleading to his voice I had never heard before. His hands slid down the side of my face, pausing at my neck before moving along my shoulders and down into the water to rest at my waist. 'I need you to be mine.'

My hands came up, breaking the surface and running through his dark wet hair. I pulled him back down to my mouth and let his lips meet mine again.

'This was it,' I murmured between kisses. 'This was the Danger.'

Harry paused mid-kiss before gently moving back to look at me. A dawning expression crossed his face and he shut his eyes. 'Of course,' he breathed, releasing me and taking a step back in the water.

I immediately felt the freezing bite of the lake, and hugged myself. 'Of course what?' I asked, afraid of the answer.

Harry opened his eyes again and gazed at me in a way that made my stomach turn over in fear. 'Of course this was the greatest Danger,' he murmured. 'How else can Voldermort win, besides having me fall in love?'

'Wait,' I said, almost choking in panic. 'Voldermort didn't send me, I'm not a spy –'

'No, I know,' Harry said with a sad smile. 'But it's all it takes. I'm sorry, Emma.'

'You're sorry? Why are you sorry?' My voice cracked as I spoke.

'We'll have to stay apart for a little while,' said Harry, taking a step towards the bank. 'If it gets worse, I may have to ask that you be sent home. Stay with Seamus – it'll be less suspicious that way.'

'No!' I cried, moving forward.

'Don't,' Harry said quietly, holding up his hand to keep me away. 'I'm not going to risk it.'

'But –'

'No Emma,' Harry said, more firmly this time. 'I watched as Voldermort literally tortured Cho to death. He thought I would give up my wand to save her, and it almost killed me to endure it, but I kept in mind the bigger picture. With you…' He shook his head and turned his back on me. 'With you I'd give up everything.'

He walked laborously out of the water and wrung his shirt out as he walked up the bank and out of sight. Not once did he turn back to look at me. The water was almost ice, but I couldn't find the strength to get out. I stood under the jetty, shivering violently and sobbing into my hands. The Danger had come, the worst thing I could possibly imagine had happened to me, and I wasn't sure I was going to live through it.

I was almost positive I was half-dead by the time Ron and Hermione found me in the water, still standing where Harry had left me.

'Oh God, she's completely blue, Ron help me please,' Hermione moaned, dashing into the water without a moment's hesitation.

She and Ron were both strong enough to drag me into shore, and a few spells later I was dry and warm. I stared blankly ahead while Hermione worked on me, and Ron tilted his head.

'I think she's out of it,' he said in concern as he waved a hand in front of my face.

'We have to take her to Madam Pomfrey,' Hermione said, pulling one of my arms over her shoulder and hauling me up the bank. Ron took my other arm, allowing most of my weight to shift to him.

'Man, lay off the desserts,' he joked to me, but I couldn't find it within me to respond.

'Emma?' Hermione asked, her voice becoming shrill for a moment. 'Emma, can you hear me? What on earth happened down here? All Harry said was that the Danger had come, and you might need help. He looked as bad as you! Oh Emma, _please_ answer me!'

I tried, I really tried to say something, but I thought of Harry and my heart shot to my throat and refused to let my voice work.

We reached the castle and people bustled about me, helping me into bed and leaving me in the care of Madam Pomprey. She worked an extra few spells on top of the ones Hermione had used before forcing a steaming mug of creamy liquid down my throat. It might have tasted nice, I wasn't sure. The signals from my brain were simply not working. Before long, Dumbledore and Remus came to see me.

'The others are waiting outside,' Remus said gently, 'but Poppy will only let two at a time come through.'

I felt comfort having him there, and finally felt my arm move. I reached up towards him, and he knelt down and took my hand.

'Remus,' I breathed lowly.

'Emma, what in the name of Merlin happened?' Remus asked, a pained expression crossing his face. 'Harry won't say a thing, except the Danger came and you fought it.'

My heart ached when I heard his name, and I realised it always had, I just hadn't noticed. Tears seared my eyes.

'Yeah,' I murmured, out of lack of things to say.

'Tell us what happened,' Dumbledore impored.

'I…I'd rather not,' I choked, the tears spilling down my cheeks. 'All you need to know is that we won and no one got hurt.'

'Not from where I'm looking,' Remus said quietly.

More tears came, and I choked a sob. 'Please let me rest,' I begged, and to my relief, they left obligingly.

No one else came in, and I rolled over, curled up in a ball and sobbed for hours before falling asleep in exhaustion.

I woke up the next morning feeling physically healthy, thanks to the large quantities of potions and spells heaped on me the previous night. I had missed the Halloween ball completely, but I didn't care. I didn't have a proper dress, for one thing, and for another I wasn't particularly up for the abuse being thrown at me by my peers.

Madam Pomfrey discharged me before mid-morning, and Ron and Hermione helped me back up to the Fourth Year commonroom. I felt as though a gaping great hole swirled inside me, or I was missing an important limb somehow. The only thing keeping me going was the fact that I was here to save Harry. I wasn't going to let him die because I was wallowing in self-pity. He obviously had his mind on the task ahead and only the task ahead, otherwise he wouldn't have been so determined to keep us apart. He had even told me to stay with Seamus to reduce suspicions, although I had no idea how I was going to face my boyfriend after what had happened.

Unfortunately, I had no time to ponder over this, as Seamus was waiting for me when I arrived in the commonroom.

'How are you doing?' he asked in concern.

'I just want to go to bed for now,' I mumbled, keeping my guilty eyes on the ground.

'Of course,' said Seamus in a frustratingly understanding voice. How could I do such a horrible thing to such a sweet guy? 'The ball was no fun without you,' he called out after me as I climbed the stairs.

'It's true,' Hermione agreed, helping me into bed. 'I wish you had been there.'

'Yeah,' Ron grinned, 'Fred got into a fight with one of the Third Years who had too much to drink –'

'Not now Ronald,' Hermione said firmly as I rolled over and stared blankly at the wall.

To be perfectly honest, it didn't matter what they said or didn't say. I couldn't pay proper attention to them anyway. I just needed to sleep the Sunday away and hope I'd be ready to face my demons on Monday morning.


	6. Chapter 6

****

Chapter Six – Tragedy

Somehow, I made it into November. I walked down corridors, barely noticing my hands and face being frozen by the chilly winds that whipped through the castle. Those who were part of the Order checked on me constantly, reminding me to eat on occasion. I kept forgetting the basic things, sometimes. Seamus was always so good to me. He didn't really know what happened, but someone – I think it was Hermione – had told him I'd been through a trauma and was still recovering. He just sat with me between classes or at meals, sometimes talking to me about menial things, sometimes silently. I tried once to break it off with him, telling him I didn't deserve his care, but he told me not to be silly – he wasn't going to abandon me at a time when I needed him most. I couldn't really argue with him; it _was_ a minor comfort to have someone beside me a lot of the time.

Ron and Hermione spent a lot of their time caring for Harry, who I heard was almost as bad as I was. I doubted this was true, because I caught him at times talking normally to his friends. We never spoke to each other – in fact we acted as though the other didn't exist. Everyone from the Order was utterly stumped as to what had happened to us, and no one had any inkling of what the truth was. At least, nearly no one.

One afternoon Dumbledore invited me into his office and asked me to break it off properly with Seamus. He requested that I stay in Hermione's care for a while, even if Harry and I refused to see each other. I wondered at the purpose for his desires, but he refused to elaborate.

I had faith in Dumbledore's decisions, so that evening I broke up with Seamus. I cried, more out of guilt than hurt, and he was terribly upset. He tried to talk me out of it, but I told him he had been so good to me already, and I needed some time to make a proper recovery. Then I went into my dorm and cried in Hermione's arms.

'I wish you would tell me what happened,' Hermione said miserably, stroking my hair. 'I just want to help.'

'I can't tell you,' I blubbered, although I had had this conversation with her a thousand times.

It hurt so much to even breathe; I was beginning to question my resolution to stay and help. Maybe it would be better for everyone if I just went home. I wondered if anyone had even noticed I was missing. Had my ex-boyfriend thrown out all of my possessions, assume I wasn't going to collect them? Had anyone even put me on the missing persons list? Dumbledore had assured me that everything had been taken care of back home, but I honestly couldn't figure out how he'd done it.

After I'd cried myself dry, Hermione took me down to the Great Hall to get something to eat. Most people had already had dinner, and were in the library studying or hanging out in the commonrooms. We were both surprised to see Ron gulping down a meal on his own.

'Where's Harry?' Hermione asked, taking a seat beside him.

I sat down as well, trying to focus hard on piling food onto my plate, but unfortunately couldn't stop myself overhearing.

'Oshars,' Ron said with his mouth full.

'Please swallow before you talk,' Hermione said impatiently.

Ron swallowed with tremendous effort, and tried again. 'Upstairs. He's not in the mood for dinner tonight.' He glanced at me questioningly before returning to his meal.

I felt my heart jump to my throat once more, and found I had lost my appetite.

'Oh no you don't,' Hermione said as I put my fork down. 'You eat something tonight, do you hear me?'

'I'm not hungry,' I murmured.

It was strange, but the part of me that wasn't sick with depression was shining with joy. It's impossible to describe, but to have someone you love fiercely return that love with just as much passion is a wonderful thing. Sadly, it can be very conflicting when you're not allowed to be with them.

'Do you know,' said Hermione, buttering a corn cob and breaking my thoughts, 'this has been the first time you, me and Ron have hung out for ages.' She looked up at me, a sad expression on her face. 'I really like it. It's even better when Harry's here, and it's the four of us.'

'Hermione –' Ron started, glancing worriedly at me.

'Please let's hang out again,' Hermione begged, interrupting him. 'I don't know what happened to you guys down at the lake, but I know it can only get better if we work through it together. Please, oh please!'

I hesitated for a moment, my heart aching with both delight and pain at the thought of having to spend real time with Harry. 'It's up to Harry,' I murmured finally.

'Oh yay!' Hermione said in delight. 'Ron, quickly go up to Harry and ask him if it's alright. Make sure you really try to talk him into it.'

'I'm in the middle of dinner!' Ron said, affronted.

'Good, he still has time to join us then! Go on!'

Ron shot her an evil look and left sulkily. We both waited, breaths held, for him to return. He did, many minutes later, looking very mournful that his meal had gone cold.

'Well?' Hermione demanded as he returned to his seat.

'He said that's fine, starting tomorrow,' he said, and my heart soared beyond the limits of space. 'But only if he and Emma are never alone together.'

I could barely sleep that night as I waited in anxious anticipation for morning. I did what I could with my appearance before heading slowly down the steps to the commonroom, being pushed slightly by an impatient Hermione behind me. Harry and Ron were waiting for us at the bottom of the stairs, and I tried not to stare too hard at the person who owned my heart. I hadn't looked at him properly in such a long time, I had almost forgotten the deep green of his eyes, or the thick darkness of his hair. I knew what that hair felt like, wet between my fingers –

With a gasp, I forced myself not to think of it, and turned to look at the stone wall beside me.

'Hello.' His voice was smooth and low, but I could hear the nervous edge to it. I hadn't heard it directed to me in what felt like eternity.

'H…hello,' I said, cursing silently as my own voice shook.

Ron and Hermione looked baffled by the exchange, but they were determined to maintain a feeling of normality between us, so they swiftly ushered us off to breakfast.

Since the day at the lake, I had completely cut out the sounds of the cruel students around me. I could hear them, kind of, in the background as we ate, but I barely paid them any attention. I was too focused trying _not_ to focus on the person sitting across from me. I inhaled so sharply my lungs ached when he moved and his knee knocked mine. He glanced up for a moment, and our eyes locked. I thought I was going to pass out from the feeling of desperation that clawed into my chest, but in the next moment he looked down again as if nothing had happened.

It was hard to concentrate in class when we sat next to each other, and it was extremely awkward in Potions as Seamus and I worked together. He was civil enough to me, but I could see his miserable expressions whenever I looked up.

The first days were hard. I struggled to fit in with anyone. I didn't know what to say, or how to act or where to look. It hurt to be around Harry, because every moment with him was just a reminder that I couldn't have him.

Something much harder hit me less than a week after the four of us started hanging out together again. Harry started to change. I noticed he talked to me much more easily now, even though I still stuttered my way though sentences. He became more relaxed in classes, and laid back during study. It hit me one day when he actually laughed at one of Ron's terrible jokes that Harry was getting over me. I went back into my room and sobbed so hard I gave myself a migraine. Once more, I longed to go home, even though there was nothing there for me. At least I could be far away from him, far away from all of this mess. Surely it would be easier if I didn't have to see him every day, didn't have to watch him stop caring about me.

I was just recovering from my third wave of tears and starting on my fourth when Hermione dashed into the room. I could tell something horrible had happened by the look on her face. My heart froze in panic.

'What's wrong?' I asked breathlessly.

'Harry's been hurt, I –'

'What?' I shrieked, jumping to my feet. 'Oh my god, where is he? Did you take him to the hospital ward? What happened to him?'

'No, he's fine now,' Hermione said. 'It was just a stupid jinx from one of Malfoy's goons, and I've already reversed it.'

I felt relief wash over me as my legs gave way and I fell back on the bed. 'Oh,' I breathed. 'Then why do you look so worried?'

'Emma!' Hermione exclaimed in horror. 'Don't you understand? You didn't have a vision about it, did you?'

My stomach dropped sickeningly when I realised. 'No,' I whispered.

'What can this mean?' Hermione cried, wringing her hands. 'Has your power stopped working? Have you even had a vision since… that time?'

I shook my head as it dawned on me that I hadn't. 'Maybe my power's stopped working,' I rasped, my throat drying out.

Hermione moaned, pacing up and down as she thought aloud, listing all the different things that could have happened. My mind was on other things.

'Maybe I should just go home,' I said quietly after a few minutes.

Hermione didn't grasp what I had said at first, but when her mind processed it, she spun to me in horror. 'WHAT?'

'This is perfect,' I said, my mind ticking. 'I need to go home. It's obvious, isn't it? I can't take being here any longer, and you've no use for me now, so I'll just go home.'

'But… but you're the key! The _key!_'

'The key to victory, right. But whose victory? The prophecy wasn't specific, and after what happened with the Danger, I can assure you I'm almost positive it will be Voldermort's victory I'll be responsible for.'

'Oh Emma, how can you say that?' Hermione asked in a tortured voice.

I ignored her and got off my bed to start packing. When Hermione realised what I was doing, she dashed down the stairs and out of sight. I took a long time to finish, slowly descending into the commonroom when I felt like I couldn't delay it any further.

The room was empty, as most people were having lunch or at Hogsmeade. The door suddenly opened and Harry walked in. He stopped when he saw me.

'Dumbledore wants to speak to you,' he said, walking towards the boy's dormitories.

I bit my lip to stop a new rush of tears and nodded, keeping my head down as I passed him.

'Is it true you want to go home?' he asked before I reached the door.

I drew in a shaky breath, hardly daring to reply. 'Of course,' I said finally. 'What does it matter to you?'

The silence was so long I thought he'd left. 'How could you think that?' he whispered when I reached for the door.

I forced myself to stop and turn around. 'What do you expect me to think? You're getting over me pretty quickly, and it'll be even easier once I'm gone.'

'I'm get… I'm getting over you pretty quickly?' Harry repeated as though he didn't believe what he was hearing. 'Are you out of your mind?'

'Well you're out there laughing and being normal –' I started, feeling a sob rising in my chest, but he cut me off.

'You call that normal?' Harry demanded. He stalked towards me with a furious look on his face. 'I'm trying to save your life! I know that if I don't start acting as though I'm ok, someone's going to figure out how I feel about you and they'll…' He trailed off, and I found he was unbearable close to me. He finished the sentence in a voice filled with pain. 'They'll hurt you.' I closed my eyes as the back of his hand brushed against my cheek. 'How can you expect me to fall out of love with you just like that?'

My eyes flew open in shock. 'L…love?' I stammered.

To my surprise, Harry actually managed a smile. 'Yes love. You know, for the world's most powerful psychic, you sure don't know very much.'

I dropped my gaze and my hand found its way into his. 'I love you too,' I murmured.

'Don't say that,' Harry whispered, leaning down to me.

'I do,' I said, glancing up at him again. 'I love you –'

His lips caught mine in a kiss and I moaned as pent up desire flowed through my body. The usual magic sparks tingled across my skin, but it only added to the incredible experience. Our mouths crushed together and our arms wrapped around each other, and part of me was dimly aware of how deadly our situation was – Malfoy or anyone could just walk through the door at any moment. But I couldn't respond to the danger, because being wrapped in Harry's arms was too much for me, and I didn't care about the future or the past. All I could focus on was him, and I there was no way I was going to stop him kissing me.

Unfortunately, something changed that idea drastically; a vision shot through my head of Seamus entering the room, and when I heard the door click I instantly pulled away. Both Harry and I were flustered and breathless, and I knew it wasn't going to look good. I quickly dashed to the door as Seamus entered and squeezed past him, keeping my head down. I ran as fast as I could to Dumbledore's office, hoping Harry would be able to explain away his shortness of breath.

My feet pounded on the concrete ground in time with the pounding in my head and the joyful leaping of my heart. The past few weeks meant nothing – I was happy and the pain had all but disappeared. I stopped at the gargoyle, said the password and sprinted up the stairs. Dumbledore was waiting in his office with Hermione and Ron sitting nervously in chairs across from him. I smiled brightly at the group and assured them I was totally fine, I'd just had a vision and it must have been trauma. They were still sitting in stunned silence when I left the room, and I've got no idea what they said after because I was already halfway back to Harry.

To my dismay, the commonroom had filled up a lot in the last ten minutes, and Harry smiled at me from across the room with a shrug of his shoulders. He and I left quietly, choosing to walk a route of the castle not normally taken. I longed to hold his hand, or have his arm around me, but he was careful to keep his distance.

'That was close,' he said after a silence.

'I know, lucky I had that vision,' I grinned.

'I wasn't talking about that. You almost left me today.'

'Well, I didn't know before what I know now.' I glanced up and caught his eye, and I felt wonderfully warm despite the icy weather.

'You're going to make this difficult for me, aren't you?' he sighed.

'No, of course not,' I said. 'I'm going to make it very easy.' I took his hand, and he didn't let go.

After that, life got a little easier. It was still difficult being so secretive, but at least we had sacred moments alone together, and I cherished every second. All members of the Order marvelled at my miraculous turnaround, and I noticed Dumbledore paying particular attention to me when he was present during meals. I felt a little uncomfortable under his scrutiny, but a surreptitious smile from Harry was all it took to cheer me up.

We loved each other's company so much that we begun to grow careless, and I'm pretty sure Hermione and Ron were clued in to what was going on. Our hands would meet under tables, our gazes would spend a lot of time on each other and we always paired up in every class. I caught moments when Malfoy would be watching us, and I remained very careful for a few hours before I dismissed the idea and recklessly involved myself with Harry once more.

It was during dinner one Friday night close to December when everything changed. I should have paid more attention to who was watching us, but I was so wrapped up in Harry that I made a vital mistake. There was a commotion at the front doors of the Great Hall, but Harry and I did not check to see what it was. We were next to each other, sharing a cream dessert and ignoring the people around us. I placed my hand on Harry's knee just as a shadow loomed over us.

'I knew it!'

Harry and I spun around to find Seamus watching us with fury across his face. His eyes were glazed, his coat was wet from the rain outside and he smelled of alcohol.

'Hey hey, Seamus is drunk everyone!' one of the guys yelled out with a laugh.

Harry and I instinctively moved away from each other, but Seamus was too drunk to notice.

'I _knew_ it! You stole my girlfriend, didn't you Potter?' he demanded in a loud voice.

Harry stood up, remaining rather calm considering the circumstances. 'Come on Finnigan, let's get you to bed before you puke on everyone.'

'No!' Seamus screamed, yanking away before Harry could touch him. 'You took her from me!'

'She was mine to begin with,' Harry said with an air of impatience. 'I'm the one paying for her, aren't I?'

'That's not what I meant,' Seamus said with a maniacal laugh. By now, he had the attention of the entire university student body. I could feel an air of doom settle around me as I tried to contain my panic.

'Seamus –' I tried, but Seamus cut me off.

'Don't you dare!' he choked, tears forming in his eyes. 'I cared about you, and you threw me away like I meant _nothing_. I treated you way better than this freak!'

'He's my employer,' I said weakly.

'Oh really?' Seamus sneered, staggering slightly. 'And how much is he paying you, exactly?'

The whole hall was deathly silent. I felt my skin prickle in horror when I realised I had no idea about wizard money.

'That… that's none of your business,' I stuttered.

'He's not paying you at all, is he?' Seamus yelled. 'He _loves_ you, doesn't he?'

The teachers in the hall who were part of the Order were simply too astonished to take action. Sirius was staring at me with his jaw hanging open. I saw Hermione and Ron tense up across the table, and Harry stared at Seamus in frozen shock. I snuck a glance over at Malfoy, who looked as though he was drinking in the entire scene with a triumphant grin. Seamus laughed and shook his finger at Harry. 'Potter loves my girlfriend – sorry, _ex_ girlfriend! She left me for you, I know it! And I'll bet you told her to! I've seen the way you watch her, I've seen the expression on your face –'

'Seamus please,' I begged lowly.

'You lost the right to ask me for anything a long time ago,' Seamus growled to me.

'That's enough, Seamus.'

The voice came from somewhere close by, and I saw with relief Remus pushing through the crowd of students to get to us. He grabbed Seamus's arms and held him firmly. 'Let's take you upstairs.'

'Remus –' I started, but Remus shook his head.

'The damage has been done,' he said in a low voice before leading Seamus away. 'We need to get you out of here as soon as possible.'

It was like a cold dose of water cascaded down my body as I realised what this meant. I glanced up at Harry in panic, but his attention was elsewhere, his face white. I turned to where he was looking and saw Malfoy slipping through the students, laughing.

'She needs to leave right now.'

'I agree we must take her away, but we'll think of a good place to hide her and keep her somewhere safe for tonight.'

'No, she needs to go _now_. Send her home.'

I listened in dismay as many members of the Order discussed my future. Harry and I stood in the corner of Remus's office, unable to add anything to the conversation.

'Maybe we should actually find out if it's true,' Sirius said, shooting Harry an uncertain glance.

'It doesn't matter if it's true,' Remus snapped with alarming fury. 'All that matters is that the entire school _thinks_ it's true, and any spies are now feeding the information straight to Voldermort.'

Harry instinctively reached out and clutched my hand tightly.

'Where's Dumbledore?' Hermione inquired, unable to meet my eye.

'He's on a business trip with the Minister,' Minerva explained. 'He'll be back in the morning.'

'We can't wait until morning,' Remus repeated harshly.

'You can't take her away from me,' Harry said suddenly, stepping in front of me.

'You haven't got a say in the matter,' Remus snapped.

'What's wrong with you?' I choked timidly.

'What's wrong with me?' Remus roared. 'You were the goddam _key_! All the training, all the sacrifices have been wasted! We can't win this war anymore! All because you couldn't keep your goddam hands to yourself!'

'Stop it!' Harry yelled furiously.

Remus seemed to shrink as he lost his anger and covered his face with his hands. 'Why did you have to do it, Harry?' he moaned.

'I love her,' Harry said desperately. 'I love her, Remus. I didn't do it on purpose. We tried to stay away from each other, after what happened at the lake… but you saw what that did to us. Emma even lost her power.'

There was a long silence. Remus kept his head in his hands when he finally spoke. 'It's too late, anyway. Take her to the Room of Requirement, Harry, and come straight back, do you hear me? Sirius, call for Dumbledore. We've got to sort out what to do.'

He turned his back on us and started planning immediately with the others. Harry kept a grip on my hand and led me out of the office. We ran into Hagrid on our way down the passageway.

'Got an urgent note 'ere,' he said, smiling cheerfully at the two of us. 'Do you know what it's about?'

Harry could only nod, and we continued silently on our way, leaving Hagrid in a state of confusion.

We reached the Room of Requirement and entered. It was now a comfortable bedroom with candles and a warm fire. I finally remembered its details from the Harry Potter books, and found tears stinging my eyes.

'Don't go,' I choked as Harry turned to leave. 'What if I never see you again?'

Harry's hand gripped the doorknob as he stared dully at the ground. 'Remus said I had to come straight back.'

'When have you ever followed the rules?' I cried. 'Besides, they'll be so stressed about everything, they won't notice you missing for a little while.'

'A little while?' Harry asked, closing the door with a slam and turning to me with a hungry look on his face. 'It's going to be longer than a little while.'

'I really have to go.'

I tightened my grip, keeping Harry firmly in my embrace. 'No.'

'Remus is already ready to kill me,' Harry's voice whispered in my ear. 'I'll see you again, ok?'

'How can you promise that?'

'I just can. Swear to me you'll stay in this room until someone comes to get you.'

'But –'

'Swear to me Emma.'

I sighed. 'Fine.'

Harry leant down and kissed me several times before he found the courage to leave my embrace and pull his clothes back on. I watched him silently, my heart aching with every passing moment. Before leaving, he came over to the bed and kissed my forehead.

'Hey,' I said slowly as it occurred to me that something was missing. 'I don't get sparks from you anymore.'

'What?' Harry asked, puzzled.

'I used to feel sparks of magic every time we touched. Now I don't.'

'Is that a good thing or a bad thing?' Harry said, looking fairly concerned.

'I don't know.'

Harry shook his head and grabbed his jacket. 'Be safe, ok?' he pleaded, and then he was gone.

I exhaled heavily and lay back on the bed, staring at the ceiling. I tried to clear my mind and get a vision of the future, but the only thing I saw was darkness. This frightened me more than the vision of the Danger ever did, because there was nothing. No feelings, even of fear. No sounds or smells or sensations. Just nothing.

Shivering, I got out of bed and found the remains of my clothes strewn across the floor. Harry had torn some of my buttons from my top when he'd ripped it off several hours ago. I didn't mind – it had been incredibly worth it.

I was just pulling my hair back when a vision caught my mind. I saw Malfoy outside in the gardens with Seamus, and he was holding a knife. The moment I snapped back to the present, I raced for the door. I hesitated only for a second when I remembered my promise to Harry, but I couldn't let Seamus die because of me. Without another moment's pause, I yanked open the door and sprinted down the dim passage and out into the open gardens. My vision had happened by the gazebo next to the Herbology greenhouse, and my legs found their way, even in the dark. A small lantern was burning within the gazebo, and I found Seamus passed out on the steps.

'Well what do you know? You _did_ come after all. What kind of Seer power do you have, anyway?'

Malfoy stepped out from behind a pillar, pressing a knife to his chest, almost lovingly. He was wearing a coat that looked very similar to mine, and was much too tight for him. With his free hand, he held his wand.

'_Accio hair!_' I jumped as a strand of hair sprung out of my head and into his hand. 'Of course, if you had known exactly what I was going to do, you definitely wouldn't have been stupid enough to come.' He pointed his wand at me and thin cords whipped out, winding swiftly around my body. I lost my balance and fell to the ground. '_Silencio!_'

I realised in horror that I couldn't speak. My mind scrambled to think of a way to escape. I wished desperately for Harry. I struggled in my binds, and wriggled in panic as Malfoy stepped over to me and rapped me hard on the head. I felt a strange sensation trickling down my body, and at first didn't realise what he had done, but my horror flared up when I saw I was the same colour as the pavement. I was invisible. Whatever Malfoy was going to do, there was absolutely nothing I could do to stop him.

He waved his wand again and a silvery mist shot out of it, dashing away into the darkness. Without another word, he quickly pulled a small vial from his jacket pocket and undid the stopper.

Deep down I knew it meant doom, but my consciousness wasn't allowing me to piece it all together.

'Showtime,' he said with a grin, dropping my hair into the potion and drinking it down with one gulp.

My eyes widened as his body began to twist and warp, his stature changed and he shrunk. When the process was completed, he looked exactly like me. He pocketed his wand, smirking at the spot I was lying.

I tried to moan, but the Silencing Charm was still on me. Somehow I knew whatever happened next was going to be the worst thing I could ever endure.

We only had to wait a few minutes before a familiar figure rushed up to Malfoy from the shadows.

'Emma, what's wrong? What are you doing out here?'

'You got my message then?' Malfoy asked in my voice. 'Well Seamus's message – I got him to send it to you before he passed out.'

I prayed that Harry would realise 'my' clothes were different, but he was a male, and everything he'd gone through tonight pushed minor details like my outfit aside. At last, Harry noticed the knife in Malfoy's hand.

'What are you doing with that?' he asked, perplexed.

'This,' Malfoy grinned, and in one terrible movement, he turned and sliced Seamus through the chest.

I tried to scream as Seamus woke up, gasping in several gulping breaths before slumping back onto the pavement. I twisted my body, straining against the binds as pools of blood trickled down the gazebo steps, dark in the lantern light.

Harry stepped back from Malfoy, trying to understand what had just happened. 'Emma?' he asked, his breathing jagged.

Malfoy ripped the knife out of the lifeless body and turned back to Harry, laughing. 'The Dark Lord shall defeat you, Harry Potter.'

'No,' Harry choked, his face creasing in terror. 'No, I don't believe you. You're under a spell or something – you would never do this to me.'

'Wouldn't I?' Malfoy cackled. 'It was all planned by my great master. I weakened you, I took control of your heart. He will strike, and he will kill you.'

'You're lying!' Harry yelled. 'What about the prophecy?'

I held my breath in desperate hope. Malfoy knew nothing about the prophecy, and hopefully his ignorance would reveal him. Unfortunately, Malfoy knew how to improvise.

'The Dark Lord's strategies are detailed and all-powerful. He set everything up. My job was to come here and seduce you. I was everything you wanted… wasn't I Harry?'

He tilted his head, letting my hair slide over his shoulder.

'I – I don't believe it,' Harry croaked. 'You wouldn't –'

'You are such an idiot, Potter,' Malfoy laughed. 'I can't believe you really fell for it.'

Harry's hands were shaking, and his voice cracked. 'I trusted you…'

'I loved to play mind games with you,' Malfoy said maliciously. 'And now I get to do more. I'm going to plead innocence when people come – I'm going to say Malfoy tricked me; it's perfect timing. He found out tonight how you felt about me. I'll come up with an elaborate excuse to make everyone else believe me. And they will, Potter. All of them. I might even be able to convince _you_, if I work hard enough.'

A look of fury crossed Harry's face, and he pointed his wand at Malfoy. 'You little bitch,' he snarled, sending him flying into the steps with a spell.

Malfoy landed quite close to me. A voice shouted out to Harry, and an old man with two burly bodyguards hurried up to the gazebo.

Harry turned to them, and as he did so, Malfoy winked towards the place I was lying. 'You're up, squib girl.' In several swift movements, the binds around me fell into nothing, I was visible and I could talk. Beside me, Malfoy vanished. I struggled to my feet, rubbing my sore wrists.

'Harry –' I cried, but he shot a spell to me to send me back to the ground.

'What's going on?' the old man asked, catching sight of Seamus.

'This girl is a murderer, Minister,' Harry growled through gritted teeth, pointing a wand at me.

'No, Harry –' I choked, but he shot another spell at me and in a moment something wound tight against my throat and begun choking me.

'Everything she's trying to say is a lie. Have your Aurors take her to Azkaban immediately.'

I clutched at my throat, struggling to breathe.

'I shall go get Dumbledore,' the old man said, and hurried away, glancing curiously in my direction.

'Are you sure she killed him?' one of the Aurors asked Harry.

'I saw it with my own eyes,' Harry said darkly.

'Maybe you should let her breathe,' the second Auror said uncomfortably.

Harry grudgingly loosened the invisible tie around my neck and I gasped for much-needed air.

'Harry, please,' I choked, 'it was Malfoy, I would never –'

'SHUT UP!' Harry screamed, making a slashing motion with his wand. My torso seared, and blood stained my clothes.

'Maybe you should at least hear her out,' the first Auror said. 'There are lots of ways dark wizards can use innocent people –'

'She said herself she would get everyone to believe her,' Harry said shortly. He looked up at the two men. 'Perhaps you should follow your boss.'

The Aurors hesitated.

'Go,' Harry snapped. 'I'll take care of the girl.'

'Don't hurt her anymore, alright?' the second Auror said, and together they reluctantly hastened after the Minister.

Harry waited until they were gone and turned to me, his wand trained on my head. 'You think you can trick them all? I won't even let you try.'

'Malfoy used Polyjuice Potion,' I coughed.

'You just don't get it, do you?' Harry snarled. 'Keep your damn mouth SHUT!'

He lunged a kick at me, and his foot connected with my mouth. Stars formed in my eyes from the pain as blood dripped onto the pavement. I writhed in anguish as Harry kicked me in the ribs, and again in the stomach. The last blow was so hard I almost vomited.

'This lets of a little steam, you know,' Harry snarled.

'Ha…rry… pl…ease,' I begged, gasping on the ground.

'For god's sake, _CRUCIO_!'

And then like an electric pulse, I felt the stream of the torture curse collide into my body. It was nothing like I could have imagined, as though fire and ice and sharpness and acid was eating through my insides, and my brain could think of nothing except death – I needed to die to escape the agony. I'm sure I was screaming; my throat was raw but I could only hear pain. Suddenly the weight of the curse lifted, and I heaved in breaths, my body feeling as though it was going to fall apart. The ground in front of me came into focus and I saw an ant crawling across the pavement. My skin flared as I felt binds twisting around me and someone hauled me onto a stretcher.

'Enjoy Azkaban,' I heard a voice mutter hatefully in my ear; my lover's voice, the one who was supposed to keep me safe.

I twisted away from him, unable to believe what was happening. My blurry vision caught sight of a midnight blue robe and I wriggled in the chains.

'Dumbledore!' I rasped desperately, my mouth still filled with blood. 'Please help me…'

'Hang on until I prove you innocent, Emma, just hang on,' Dumbledore whispered lowly, and I was carried away, barely conscious.

I woke up in a dark place, the sound of screaming and moaning jolting me from my unnatural sleep. I felt dirt below me, but I was no longer tied up. I couldn't move from my spot, though I could see bars to my left. So I was in Azkaban.

I was willing to bet I was here against Dumbledore's orders. In fact, I could almost say with certainty that Harry had talked the Aurors into taking me here.

Before my mind could return from its cloudy haze, I fell once more into darkness as terrible images crossed my mind. I tried to stop it; I remembered vaguely that several dementors were kept imprisoned to continue torturing the prisoners. However my morale was low and my resistance was almost non-existent, and the painful visions smothered me until I forgot everything except that I was alone.

I relieved my last moments with Harry over and over, screaming for him to stop, feeling the agony of the Cruciatus Curse too many times to count. I lost all notion of minutes and hours and night and day. It felt like I had been here for eternity, lost in a sea of hopelessness. I didn't remember what love felt like, but I held on for as long as I possibly could. I knew it felt good to be with Harry, I just couldn't remember the exact sensation. However, the memory disappeared eventually, and I lived in constant despair, knowing Harry had lost faith in me and that we could never be together again.

Very slowly, the painful grip of the dementors disappeared. I don't know whether it had been hours or years, but I broke the surface of the darkness to realise I was in a familiar hospital ward with blurry people around me. It only lasted for a second before I sunk back into my nightmares, reliving the moments at the gazebo over and over. I caught snatches of words in the blanket of black; I couldn't make much sense of it. Someone called to me on occasion, but I was unable to reply.

I broke through to the surface a few more times, and I grew anxious and confused. I didn't know whether I was in the gazebo or the hospital, and I screamed for help a lot.

No one helped me.

'_Emma, Emma, look at me, please look at me… Emma they're going to send you home, please don't go, please don't go.._.'

I heard the words and snapped out of my nightmare, trying to focus on the person beside my bed. He looked familiar, like the boy from the gazebo, but I couldn't remember who he was. His face filled with hope when he saw my gaze fixed on him.

'_Emma? Oh god, stay with me, just a few seconds, talk to me; say something. Emma no, Emma stay with me…_'

He slipped out of view and the darkness returned and I screamed as I felt the torture curse ripple through my body. I didn't see the hospital again for a long time, and was stuck in a world where all I wanted to do was die.

It was so dark, so terrifying. I couldn't bear it, but I had no way out. My hell had destroyed me, and the visions were getting weaker as I felt my strength escaping. Then a beacon of light glimmered before me, and I reached for it in desperate hope. There was a way out, I was finally going to die…

The light took form before me and I paused, recognising the figure.

'Emma?' the man said. 'We've planted this false memory inside your brain. I hope it doesn't overload you, but we were running out of options. We tried everything we could to fix you. I'm so sorry it came to this. Dumbledore proved to Harry using a pensieve that you were innocent, and we got you out of Azkaban in a few hours, but it seems we were too late.'

His words barely had meaning to him. I struggled to comprehend anything he was saying along with attempting to remember who he was. I tried to touch him but he was just an image, an insertion into my mind.

'Emma, we're going to do the only option left to us,' the man continued. 'You're dying, and no one is willing to sacrifice you. We're going send you back in time, to just before you first arrived. We've tucked a note into your arms so that the past Dumbledore will understand what's happened.' The man managed a small smile. 'That's how he did it, after all that. That's how he knew where to pick you up, and how he kept your identity alive at home. That's where Nymphadora and Arthur and the other members of the Order were. You've been living an alternate life back home, and they were watching over you.'

I knew, finally, who he was.

'Remus,' I murmured, once again trying to reach him.

As though he was really there, he held out his hand to me. 'Emma, sweetheart, we're going to have to take away your memories. It's for your own survival. You will remember nothing of Hogwarts, or of Harry. It won't hurt, I promise.'

Harry… memories… hurt…

The words tugged at my heart as an image of Harry came to me. He smiled at me, his green eyes sparkling, and he held me close. No, I couldn't forget him –

Already, great chasms of time and space appeared in my mind. Events, people, feelings; all of them vanished as I struggled to catch to them. I clung to Harry the hardest, gripping his image tightly for as long as I could. But the magic was too strong, and eventually I was holding onto nothing.

* * *

That's the last chapter guys. Oh, but before you flame me... there's a sequel. ;p


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